His Forgotten Obsession 2 : Race to the Grave
by xThe-Unkwnx
Summary: A trip to his past will bring Slade Wilson's future foes. Uncover the life he lead before the Titans, and the life he continues to lead after.
1. Henry Meets a Mystery

A/N: The sequel to His Forgotten Obsession. Hopefully this time, this addition will be just as successful in my eyes as the last was. So please enjoy, and review.

Thanks,

x**The-Unkwnx**

Title: Welcome to Four Blocks Down From Happiness

**-xXx-**

**Chapter One---**

**Twenty-five Years after Raven's Death**

"Where's the file, Josie? I need the god damned file," through gritted teeth, with an agitated tone, he called from his desk, piled with paperwork.

"Yes, sir," Josie said meekly, leaving the office.

"And a coffee with cream and sugar!" he yelled after her. Seconds later the phone rang. Josie picked up the phone. "Hello? Okay, hold on. It's the Mrs., sir," Josie said, standing in the doorway.

"Okay. Hurry up with the files and the coffee. I need to get home so she'll stop complaining." He pressed the other flashing button and sighed heavily before bringing the phone to his ear and answering it.

"This is the third time this week you have spent a late night at the office, Henry. The kids want to see you and so do I. I don't want to have Chinese take-out every night because I don't know if you're coming home or not!" she stated angrily.

"I'm sorry Claire, but ther—"

"That's the same excuse as last night and the night before, and the night before that. I'm tired of it!"

"It's the truth! I have a duty to this city!"

"But foremost you have a duty to this family, Henry!" Claire started to tear up, and sniffled into the phone.

"Claire, I'm sorry, I really am."

"Are you avoiding us?"

"What? No! Babe, I'm leaving now. Okay? I'll be home in twenty minutes. I lov—" The phone clicked before he could finish.

"Here is the file, Mr. Adams," Josie softly spoke, putting it neatly on the desk.

"Thanks, Josie. I'm going to go home, and you can leave too you know," Henry said, getting up from his chair.

"I have a few things to finish, but I will lock up and such. I am going away for the weekend and do not want a mountain of paperwork to come back to. So, have a good night sir. Oh, and here's your coffee."

"Thanks just put it here. And you too." Josie closed the door, and Henry grabbed the folder and opened it, looking at the criterion that was inside. Another missing person case. It was the second one this month, and it was some of the first missing persons case that happened to this newly constructed city. It was the first major city to not be built by an immediate water source; therefore, all of its inhabitants are extremely wealthy people that can afford the cost of the products sold there. Because it was an expensive affair to bring the products deep into the country, the costs soar upwards.

Henry waved goodbye to Jose and walked out of the building towards his car and opened the back door and shoved his suitcase and jacket on the seat and closed the door. His cell phone rang and he flipped it open to answer it.

"Hello?" he answered, getting into his expensive vehicle.

"Hey, Dad."

"I'm on my way home, Ben," he said turning on the car.

"Moms really mad, and she's freaking out and Rachel is crying hysterically. Dad, we just need you home!" Ben voiced.

"I'll get there as soon as I can! Do you need me to pick up anything?"

"Get pizza, everyone likes pizza. Just hurry." Henry hung up the phone. Tonight was going to be hell.

-xXx

Henry walked into a silent home, and looked around for the chaos that his son was worried about. He threw the to-go cup of coffee out, and placed the pizza on the island counter. He proceeded to place his briefcase and jacket in his office, and then went upstairs. He checked Rachel's room, and she was not there. Panic lit in his eyes as he moved down the hallway towards Ben's room. He opened the door vigorously to find Rachel asleep, with her thumb in her mouth, next to Ben on his bed.

"She finally calmed down," Ben whispered.

"Good," Henry said with a smile. "Where's your mother?"

"In your bedroom. She stormed up there right after I got off the phone with you. I don't know why she was freaking out. You are only at the office late," Ben sighed.

"Your mother just wants a family meal every night. She values it highly because she really didn't have that. The pizza is downstairs if you feel like it."

"Thanks Dad." Henry gently picked up Rachel, so Ben could move out of his bed, and cradled her. He kissed the side of her head and began rocking her back and forth.

"Daddy?" she whispered sleepily.

"Yeah, baby?"

"I'm hungry." Henry smiled, and laughed.

"Let's go downstairs and get you a slice of pizza."

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"Is Mommy mad?"

"She's mad at me, baby. She loves you from here to the moon and back."

"But does she love you?" For a six year old, she was very intuitive. She was a handful from day one.

"I'm sure she does. Now let's go get that pizza," Henry said putting her down, and grabbing her hand.

-xXx

"Rough night?" his colleague asked, following Henry to his office.

"The couch wasn't too comfortable," Henry bitterly answered with a yawn.

"Another petty fight?"

"We didn't even talk this time, John." The two of them entered the office and John closed the door. He unfolded the folder that he had in his hand and laid it out.

"We've got a problem," John said, a trace of worry in his voice.

"What?"

"Our first murder case. And from the looks of things, this guy is pretty good."

"Is the missing case connected with this?"

"Possibly? We just got this in right before you got here." John's pager beeped, and he looked at it. "It's for you. They want you down at the scene."

"Where is it?"

"4 Joy Road."

-xXx

"The first odd thing was that he came in through the attic. Broke through the window somehow. That's being further investigated because there are no trees or any real easy way through there but by climbing the house to the roof, which is pretty skilled, if you ask me. Now, the time of death lands about one in the morning. The victim wasn't asleep when he was murdered, so either he awoke from the crash, he never fell asleep, or the killer woke up him. Considering how he died, he wasn't very well liked. He was strangle—"

"I can read the report you sent me, Hugh. Why did you need me down here?" Henry impatiently asked.

"Look at the style of how he was killed, and then look at your background. That's why we need you here."

"It's extreme and brutal, so what?"

"And old fashioned."

"What do you mean?"

"If you read the report thoroughly enough, Henry, you would have seen that the bullet that was pulled from his side was made in at least 2006, obviously not coming from a gun made like these days."

"Two thousand and six? Hugh, that's sixty-one years ago."

"I guess this guy went into a different business then we do at retirement age," Hugh said with a chuckle.

"Can you break into an attic window at sixty-one, or even older?" Henry asked matter-of-factly.

"I'd rather go through the front door."

"Exactly," Henry stated. The word rolled off his tongue as if he was on to something, maybe even some_one_.

-xXx

The town was new, fresh with victims to terrorize. It's clean slate was perfect to tarnish by a villain like Deathstroke.


	2. A Son's Worry

A/N: Thanks for the feedback on the first chapter. Hope the rest are enjoying too!

**Chapter Two---**

**Two Years After Raven's Death**

"Dad, you can't live like this," a son's worried voice echoed throughout the room.

"I can, and I will."

"Jess is worried about you too."

"Sam, I don't need any advice from my own _son_," Slade coldly remarked, his voice went real deep.

"You're living in your old hideout, smoking all day and drinking all night! I think that calls for some help, even if it is from me!"

"It doesn't matter, I can't die. Just leave me in peace."

"You've already dug your own gra--"

"A grave I will never be able to _lie _in! A grave that serves _no purpose _for my body! Sam I _want _to die!"

"I'm sure Mom would hate your behavior," Sam snickered, "You take other people's lives to fill your own, you live in complete solitude from your own family…. Why don't you want to _change_?"

"I've accepted my fate."

"This isn't it. You're acting like a child." Slade raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Before you leave again, I must pass on a little bit more of my wisdom. When a man hides behind a mask, there is something worth hiding…a secret, a horrible past, a dying will…I've _earned _where I am now."

"No one earns this!"

"Killing is my _destiny, _Sam! I am good at nothing else!" Slade cried, tears starting to fill his eyes, "when you have lost almost everything in the fight for something, and you have nothing else to give, then you may understand the _pain!"_

"I lost someone too! Jess's parents, Victor and Gar did too! Raven was not only your wife, but my mother and a friend! Bottle up this fucking pity party and make a better name for yourself!" Sam yelled in frustration. Sam gave one last cold look before he left the hideout and slammed the door vigorously behind him.

-xXx

**Twenty-Five Years After Raven's Death (Present Day)**

"Someone, Henry?" Hugh asked.

"Yes…. Continue to create a timeline of what happened. Have it on my desk as soon as possible. I need to go find and old friend," Henry said, rubbing his scruffy chin.

"Alright. Just be careful, this guy could be anywhere," Hugh said, his voice quivering and his gaze twitching.

"I will."

-xXx

**Two Years After Raven's Death**

"I can't deal with him anymore, Jess," Sam angrily yelled, "I'm only trying so hard because he's my father and I want him apart of _my _life, but he doesn't seem to want to return the favor."

"Just be patient, I'm sure he'll come around in time," Jess soothed.

"That's the thing, he's not! He's a selfish stubborn bastard, with the attitude of a child!"

"No one knows the pain he's going through, Sam."

"Did I not loose someone too Jess? I lost my mother, a parent."

"Imagine if you lost me. It's a different kind of love. And remember all the stories we heard from them? Imagine the love they shared, and how…how…spectacular it must have been. They went through so much, and then she's taken like it's nothing," Jess explained.

"Are you siding with him?"

"I'm trying to make you understand!"

"It's taken me years to figure out my father, and you do it in a mere minute?"

"I'm just repeating what has happened to him! It's obviously turned him cold!" Jess yelled. Sam fell silent. He knew she was right, but like his father, was to stubborn to admit it. "Enough talk about him. I'm tired of it." Jess retreated out of the room and went upstairs.

-xXx

**Present Day**

"What the hell are you doing home so early?" Claire snapped.

"Claire, please. I'm doing some research. I'll be home for dinner tonight, okay?" Henry sighed.

"Research on what?"

"Jump City."

-xXx

"Why don't you just kill me!" a man's voice cried in agony.

"Because sitting here, watching you bleed to death out of almost every pore on your body is a hell of a lot more fun then just slicing your head off."

"_Jerk_." Slade smiled, and got up from the chair and walked over to the man, who was seconds away from death.

"That was lame, kid. Real lame."

"Not…a kid--"

"Okay. Forty-two year old male. That better?" Slade's victim coughed up blood, and then slouched, sliding down, against the wall. "Guess so."

Slade exited the room and opened the hall window. He popped out the screen, and climbed out the window. He jumped from the second story of the home and landed on his feet. He could feel his bones absorb the shock, causing them to slightly crack. However, that was not a problem for his body, for it healed the problem in just under ten seconds. After he healed, he took off his mask and stripped himself of the suit, and took out street clothes from the duffle bag he had placed right next to his landing spot. Once dressed, he stuffed the uniform he clung on to dearly into the bad, zippered it up, and swung it over his shoulder. Another killing done, another cigar he could light tonight.

-xXx

**Fifteen Years After Raven's Death**

"Guess what," Slade, seeming drunk spat, "I can have another cigar. I killed someone. That's become a rule around here. After every kill I reward myself with a cigar. Thank god there is a lot of people on this damned planet. Usually after fifteen years of talking to yourself, you'd think you'd be in some kind of asylum. I guess they left out the masked villain on their roll call." Slade placed the cigar in front of his face, and placed his lips firmly around it. He then lit a match and lit his cigar. After it was lit, he inhaled, and exhaled a large puff of smoke. He shook the match and dowsed the flame. "There's nothing like a go--" The swung open and hit the wall, leaving an undesirable crack.

'_You are not alone_….'

"Right…," Slade's voice trailed. The voice was soft enough to be clearly heard, and it rung in his head. It repeated itself rapidly, making Slade remember the line. But what made him even more uneasy was the door. Never before had a door sung violently open, and so suddenly. He got up and went over to the door and looked around. Nothing.

'_You are not alone…._'

"Uh huh. And Raven is here with me. _Bullshit._ God damned alcohol…."

-xXx

**Present Day**

Henry stared at his computer for hours on end, reading all of the articles about the Teen Titans. The stories painted a very clear picture on how the teens were, or at least how the tabloids viewed them anyways. But the two characters in the stories of their past that Henry became most interested with was Raven and Slade.

"Missing?" he asked himself aloud, "Personal hiatus? What the hell is it. There's so many diff--Slade…gone too? Now, _that _may not just be coincidence…." Henry pressed on, reading more and more articles about the strange occurrences that happened around the Titans. From the technical accident that caused a chunk of the tower to explode, to the mysterious dissipation of the team. Henry's eyes shifted to the column were all the related articles were, and he passively skimmed it down.

"'Teen Girl Returned to Parents Dead by Titans'. The explosion…. Now I'm on to something…," Henry hissed out of the side of his mouth.


	3. Deathstroke vs Slade Wilson

The night air stimulated Slade's senses, making the adrenaline pour through his veins. His heart pumped faster, but it still beat only for one woman. No matter how much Slade busied himself with his murderous work, she still never left him. During the day, every object seemed lit with her memory, and at night his dreams turned to unrelenting nightmares of her dying. And even if it was a pleasant dream, he always had to wake to reality.

The mask he chose to wore, he chose to hide behind, had completely consumed him. He no longer knew Slade Wilson, the man that once inhabited his body; he only knew of long missions and bloody scenarios. His past was all a massed blur in his memory. He supposed he liked it that way, a total mystery to himself. It helped sooth the pain. He even ignored his own offspring at all costs. They only formed unwanted clips of the life he had with his deceased lover.

Tonight was no different then last night or the night before. He prowled the streets of random cities, acting as a vigilante…sometimes listening to his employers. He was the businesses best kept secret, however. He was each company's secret weapon, a man they hired to get the job done right. He was rarely at the place he called home, an old base where he used to plot to destroy the Teen Titans. The place was worn with old technology and a hint of sanity.

Deathstroke wasn't ready to love. He wasn't ready to feel any sort of emotion that lead to attachment. In fact, he inwardly despised it, avoiding human contact as much as possible. But Slade Wilson, Slade Wilson was ready to love again. The emptiness that plagued him so long was now begging to be filled with a palette of bright colors. Being depressed was now consuming more energy then he liked. But Deathstroke was too stubborn to be opened to any other idea other than his own. This is why he still, twenty-five years later, is repelling any chance of being happy. However, fate's way of bringing him happiness was already twenty-five years in the making.

-xXx

**Twenty-Five Years Ago – Jump City Hospital**

The hospital seemed packed with needy patients that day. One in-particular incident upsetting the hospital staff the most. A woman, wounded by an explosion, and a man, beaten near death, entered the hospital. Both were sent into intensive care, and both had slim to none chance of making it out alive, the woman in-particular. But something happened that stunned the doctors. The man was almost fully healed after the next check-up by a nurse. But, the woman had deceased. Hit with a wall of emotions, a man with a gun pulled the trigger and startled the people. The staff immediately reacted trying to keep down the man, but the man's deceased wife's friends wouldn't let them touch him. The man escaped and disappeared back into the darkness that he was born of.

But still within the hospital surgeries, transplants, transfusions, and most importantly deliveries were still going on. One in-particular birth would change the man's life completely in the years to come. A healthy baby girl was born to two loving parents. But what her parents didn't know is that the child was blessed by the spirit of a raven. And that her destiny was already floating around her in that hospital that ay, and she would never know it…until she ran into it twenty-five years later.

**Present Day**

Henry stood in front of Titan's Tower with his hands deep in his pockets. The boat behind him swayed with the waves, its worker trying hard to anchor the boat to shore so it wouldn't drift away.

"Ah, welcome Mr. Kane. The museum is ours today because of your generous payment to make it so," a suited man said, shaking Henry's hand.

"No problem. There's always a price to pay for the fine things in life."

"Indeed. Now, interestingly enough the museum was handed over to the city only a year ago after one of the former Titan's decided he needed to slip away into retirement. It was co-owned by two of them for a while, until one of them decided it wasn't worth being reminded of past memories."

"Now which ones are they?"

"Beast Boy and Cyborg," the tour guide said, opening the door into the tower, "now the Teen Titans consisted of five teens. Robin the self lead leader, Starfire the gorgeous alien woman, Beast Boy the animal shape shifter, Cyborg the cybernetic organism, and Raven a sorceress. The five stayed a team together for a long time. But tragedy definitely plagued their team. As much as they did good deeds for the city, a lot was going on in their lives."

"Tell me everything you know," Henry said stopping in front of the elevator. The guide pressed the button to the upper floor.

"Writing a book?" he asked curiously.

"No; solving a murder," he stated in monotone.

"Oh. Oh dear. May I ask how it links to the Titans?"

"That's what I'm here to find out." The elevator dinged open and the two stepped in.

"Now, it all started when- -" The doors closed and they ascended into the main room of the tower.

A/N:: Well, it may be a short chapter, but it's a start to a wwaaaayyy to long comeback. Enjoy.


	4. Smartass

"Should I turn a light on?"

"No."

"You can't see a thing."

"I like it that way." Slade doused his cigar in the ashtray, and exhaled the smoke.

"Fine, keep on sulking I don't give a –"

"How's Mark?" Steph stopped walking in the other direction, and turned towards the small dark room her father was sitting in.

"You know how we are. I'm not going to explain it to you every time you walk through the doorway. Just because Sam won't let you near his home doesn't mean you can barge into mine all the time and ask me those prying questions, okay?" Steph answered, clearly annoyed.

"You never talk about him. Therefo-"

"Just finish what you want to do here and leave. I've grown tired of this," Steph walked out of the room and into her bedroom and shut the door. Slade, once again, was lonely.

-xXx

"It all started when Raven disappeared from the team, and only four of the five Titans showed up to battle the City. And what was really odd, is that Slade disappeared too," the guide said, his face showing a perplexed look.

"Where'd he go?" Henry asked. The doors of the elevator flew open, and then stepped into the main room of the tower. Inside, there was a section for where the visitors could stand and look at the room. Everything in the room was placed as if they were still there. Five cases were in the room too, each one for the Titan's costume. Cyborg's case, however, held a few chips of his own technology that helped him run.

"No one quite knows the answer. There was a theory that Raven and Slade disappeared together, or Slade had died. But that theory was laid to rest after he came back. He made up for his absence too. Almost seventeen years of pure evil from him. So much bloodshed he caused, sometimes there were three bodies dead around the city. And Raven, she changed her getup from a purplish color to white; like symbolizing purity. There was an encounter at a mall, monumental because it was him versus the Titans once again," the guide explained, he himself analyzing the situation, seeking the correct answer.

"What about the explosion that took out a corner of this place? Right there," Henry said pointing to the far left corner, where the enormous window met wall.

"The Titans never reported it. The companies were hired to fix it, and that was the end of it. No trace of anything suspicious."

"Which _is _suspicious."

"I couldn't agree more. However, there just isn't any record of a statement released or anything. But, the Titans did report a death."

"A death?" Henry asked curiously.

"A teenage girl. Her name was Rhiannon Harris, if I remember correctly. Henry scribbled the name down onto the pad, and darkly circled it.

"I will look into that…," Henry darkly spoke aloud.

"She is from Plainsville, though. That also may be some help to you."

"Thank you, sir. I think that this short visit will help us catch the killer," Henry said with a smirk.

"I hope so," the guide agreed sincerely.

-xXx

"A man who chooses to be alone, will always be alone. There are no exceptions, no loop holes. Nothing."

"What happens when a woman comes into the equation?" The teacher looked to the doors, where a suited man stood. "A woman can change the man's perception."

"If the man wants to be alone, nothing can change his feelings."

"The complicated act of sex, Mr. Jones, makes things rather…complicated." The students giggled softly.

"Who says the characters have to have sex?"

"Who said they didn't?" His cockiness resounded in the room. A few students "oh"ed at the statement.

"Mr. Wilson, loneliness is a familiar feeling, now isn't it?"

"Which is why I _know_ a woman can change the equation." The students looked at each other with confusion. Their teacher seemed to know who the man was by the way of the conversation, but couldn't figure out their relationship.

"Class, continue reading through to the next chapter, and find out how our character kills his loneliness," Mr. Jones told the class, while exiting through the doors that lead into a conference room that connected to the current room they were in. He closed the door.

"A teacher?" Slade questioned.

"Every time I move it's a new identity. The gove—"

"You still think the government is going to save your ass?"

"Slade, they have. They erase who I was the last time, so the next time I'm someone new."

"The government did this to us. We're what; ninety-four, and I still feel like I'm thirty!"

"Is that such a bad thing?" Jones asked.

"Sometimes a man doesn't choose to be alone, it just happens that way," Slade said with a piercing remorse.

"What happened? The last I remember you were working on some project with a failed engagement and a broken attitude. And to be honest, it looks like things haven't changed." Slade looked at his long lost friend, and sighed deeply.

"The past is the past," Slade stated solemnly.

"Why did you come here anyway—"

"Not once have you mentioned me being a vigilante. Not once…. Were you asleep when—"

Jones cut his parade of insults before they could even start, "I was in Europe and Asia. Even in Africa for a while. Since the incident I haven't came back since about five years ago. So you're a vigilante?"

"Then we have much to talk about before I ask you to help me."

"With _what _exactly?" Jones asked curiously, his brow deepening with worry.

-xXx

"Maybe it's just coincidence. Raven's character isn't exactly what we would like to call normal. She could have gone to a deserted island to meditate, who knows? And Slade probably got frustrated because he couldn't defeat a bunch of hormonally charged teens. He came back and thrived as a dangerous vigilante. He's still wanted," Hugh mused at his desk, sitting opposite his friend and colleague.

"But isn't it a little strange that he's been around for about _sixty _years?" Henry questioned, tying to stress his point.

"I agree, it's strange. But what are you trying to prove?"

"That he's the murderer! He's the oldest guy in the business I'm _sure_. The weapons wreak "old school". This guy has been—"

"If you think he's the murderer, go get him Henry. You're the boss."

"Hugh don't you see the connections? I want you to see them! I mean, it's not a crazy idea?"

"This is the infamous Deathstroke, Henry."

"He's not only Deathstroke, but he's _Slade_!" Hugh gave him a peculiar look.

"Henry, that's impossible. That would place his age to nearly one hundred!" Hugh pointed out, giving Henry a look of sadness. "Maybe you should take yourself off the case."

"I'm one hundred percent serious!" Henry yelled in his defense, "only one man could do his job _this _well."

"One man _did _his job well. Now he has passed on or is living in retirement with a respirator. And if it is the same man then he probably killed the victim with his oxygen tank."

Henry sighed with disappointment. He was angered that his own friend would deny such a plausible theory. But, only he knew Slade's secret of being impenetrable. He closed his folders and grabbed his papers and picked up his jacket.

"I'm sorry I bothered you." He quickly scurried out of the room, and shut the door with aggravation.

-xXx

_'Just one more piece to your pathetic puzzle, you drunken fool,'_ Slade's mind toyed with him, _'All you have to hide is a mess.'_

"A mess I love to keep," he whispered, bringing the half emptied glass of whiskey to his lips.

_'I'm surprised you still have a job.'_

"It pays the bills, quiet nicely."

_'You've always had a knack for being a smart ass.'_

"You're pretty good at it too."

_'I'm your conscience; I'm supposed to be a smart ass.'_ Slade smiled. Who knew having a conversation with yourself could be so amusing?

But a voice, a different voice, echoed softly. Instead of it being in the nonsense of his own mind, he could hear it.

_"Open your heart, spread your wings,"_ the voice hushed. Slade looked around the room for any sign of a person, but there was no one. He finished the whiskey and put the glass down. _"Open your heart, spread your wings. Open your heart, spread your wings," _it repeated. A gust of wind happened outside, and then silence.

_'Your conscience is telling you that you are scared.'_

"My sub-conscience is telling me that you are a smart ass."

-xXx

A/N: Well, I was itching to get this chapter out, so please, enjoy!!!


	5. An Old Friend Becomes a New Alliance

In the life of Rachel New, everything was perfect. She loved her job, loved her family, and most of all loved her fiancé. The boss of his father's flourishing business, her fiancé decided to move to a city where he could boast his riches with people who had the same amount, if not a little less or a lot more, than he. For twenty five years, Rachel had resided in Jump City, and was somewhat reluctant to leave. But, she was willing to bend for her fiancés wants, and agreed with him to move.

The private jet landed in the only airport in the city, and Rachel and her fiancé were quick to leave the plane to hurry to their new spacious apartment.

"You're going to love it here, Rae, I promise," he said holding her tight and kissing her forehead.

"You promise? What happens if I don't like it?" Rachel asked.

"I'll fly out to see you in Jump City on the weekends," he answered with a joking smile. Rachel hit his chest in a flirtatious manner. "Oh, you know I'm only joking. I'd become deprived of you and end up flying back to be with you. I love you to much."

-xXx

"Hold the god damned gun, Jones," Slade demanded.

"Being a pacifist, it's—"

"Hold the gun or its going to fire in your direction."

"Both of us know we can't die, so it's useless to do so," Jones rebutted.

"When did you decide to become a fucking pacifist anyways? You were in the fucking _army, _Jones. You were signed up to kill someone at any point."

"I don't know. Violence didn't seem the answer to our problems. Besides, it's not like I could die from it." Slade looked at Jones as if lost. He couldn't seem to process the reasoning for Jones's anti-violence vow. Jones was runner-up to Slade's own amazing abilities. Slade stepped forward and waved the hand gun in front of Jones's face.

"Can't you smell the gun powder, taste the metallic taste? Can't you _feel _the power running off into your blood, into your indestructible veins? Come on Jones, there's only three of us left; you, me and our lost friend," Jones's slapped Slade's arm away.

"You can't pull me back into this shit, Slade. I retired from the business a long time ago."

"You were never in the business! Embrace the serum, just for a little while, Jones; until we can get a certain person behind bars," Slade mused. Jones looked pathetically at Slade.

"In this hideout, all you do is hide. Why don't you step into the _light_, just for a little while. Try and become a person again."

"I am a person, just a very lonely person," Slade retorted.

"I'll make you a deal. Teach me the ways of a gun, and I'll teach you how to be human. Deal?" Jones held out his hand. Slade needed him for his plan, and Jones new it. He _knew _Jones knew it. Slade shook hands on the deal and immediately shoved the weapon into Jones's hand.

"Leave the rest to muscle memory, old friend," Slade maliciously grinned.

-xXx

**Roughly Seventy-Five Years Ago**

"Move your asses, boys. This is how real men, become men!" the sergeant shouted to the soldiers doing the obstacle course.

The rain came down in sheets, making the once hard ground into almost unbearable mud. The soldiers splashed around, diving under ropes, and jumping tires.

"Next week we're in the trenches, and you better hope the weather decides to let up, because I sure as hell won't!" he roared. The rain water dripped off his face, and he constantly had to keep rubbing his face so he could see. The rain was coming down so hard, that it started to look like fog. It fell in large raindrops, and wet a large area of ground.

The leader of the course, and always the first one done, was Slade Wilson, and Patrick Jones was always eager to gain on Slade's glory.

"Move fast, Wilson, or I'll drag you back by your boots so you're behind me!" a younger Jones yelled.

"Have to catch me first, Jones!" Slade yelled back.

"One more lap for the bunch of yah! Hurry it up or you won't get any supper!" the sergeant yelled. Slade and Patrick rushed to start the course over again, and both were at each other's throats for the lead.

"Slow down, boys, you're making the rest look bad!" their sergeant called to them with a joyous laugh. But it didn't stop Slade finishing the course in record breaking time, with Patrick only a few feet behind. Both of the boys came out smiling.

"Oh come on, Jones, second place ain't so bad," Slade said, ruffling Jones's muddy hair.

"For you it is, Wilson," Jones said slapping Slade's hand away. Slade smiled and laughed.

"Yes it is, yes it is."

After a tasteless supper, Jones and Slade headed back to their bunks. But when they got to their cabin, Slade saw a figure outside, leaning against the face of the structure.

"Slade Wilson?" a feminine voice asked.

"Yeah, that's me," Slade asked, looking up and down the body to identify her.

"Come with me," she said, walking away. Slade looked over at Jones and shrugged.

Once inside her office, she took off her jacket and put it on a rack, and sat down at her desk.

"Take a seat, Mr. Wilson," she ordered and he obeyed. But his face went from serious to a loving smile.

"So professional about something so unprofessional," he sneered.

"As a figure of importance at this base, you will follow the food chain, and respect your elders," she said with a rather serious expression.

"Excuse me, Addie—"

"As your former instructor, it's still Instructor Kane, Mr. Wilson."

"So what did you want to see me for, Instructor Kane?" Slade asked with a playful smile.

"I think it's time we experiment a little more with our relationship. Take it to the next level so to speak."

"Oh?"

"Yes." She stood from her chair and walked over to Slade, as if modeling each step.

"Look I really admire you but—"

"But what…a little afraid are we? Slade Wilson can conquer all obstacles, but a woman. He can barely get in five feet of one without shaking." Meanwhile, Slade was trying to keep in his hands steady. "Come on, just try?" She peered through his soul with deep ocean eyes. "I'll show you right, I promise." She took his hand into hers and started to kiss his fingertips. She brought his hand to her chest, and left it there so she could strip herself of her own clothes.

"Wait," he silently gasped, "let me get that for you." And so he did, he unbuttoned her shirt as she lifted his above his head. She smoothly guided her hands across his young unmarked chest, and all he could do was stare at hers in wonder.

"There a little different in person than in magazines, right?" she joked with a smile. She then took her bra off, and revealed to him her naked breasts. He was so embarrassed he nearly turned, but he couldn't. His primal instincts were to take her to a heaven so glorious; it was nearly inconceivable how it could happen on Earth. They fondled each other, making sure to pay attention to every crevasse, every imperfection they offered. Slade pushed her into the wall, and she gasped ever so quietly, enjoying the rough attitude. He meekly entered her and she vigorously accepted, making sure that she would take his virginity with an unforgettably enjoyable vengeance. She panted with pleasure as the event ensued, giving them a mind numbing experience. Sweat dripped off their bodies, their heat and heavy breathing fogging the windows. The hours they spent together melted like minutes as the moon moved valiently across the sky. Their muscles relaxed, and they took sharp inhails, Slade nearly collapsing from his standing position.

"Collect your things," she said out of breath, "you need to leave."

"Still all buisness, Addie?"

"I have a meeting in five minutes." Slade looked at the clock.

"At two thirty in the morning?" he questioned.

"It's a secret."

"Just like this?"

"Just like this."

-xXx

"Oh my God," Rachel gasped, subconsciecely dropping her bag, "it's the most beautiful place, ever!"

"Rachel, it's empty," Peter said with monotone.

"But the colors," she replied passionately, "it's perfect. I can just see the furniture. I knew I could trust you with good taste. How did you find this place?"

"I have my ways."

"Peter, it's perfect. Much like you, if I may say so."

"Oh really?" he questioned playfully.

"Yes, babe. I will always love you, and only you," she said running into his arms. He kissed the bridge of her nose, and pecked her cheek down to her neck. He nuzzled his lips there for a while, and then she broke away.

"Oh, come on, honey. You just can't leave me longing for more."

"I believe I just did."

-xXx

"The serum enhances mitosis. It makes the skin cells recreate in seconds. And damaged nerves? No problem. What would normally take sixty years, would only take sixty seconds. This concoction will make our soldiers undefeatable. They will be able to defy death, and not sustain any major injuries," the medical director of the meeting bribed.

"So basically a super soldier? A man turned machine?" the general asked.

"If you would like to put it that way, then yes."

"Will they ever be able to die?" Addie asked, curiously.

"That's the catch, they can't. The cells will continually reproduce until the end of time. Unless there is a cure to this serum."

"So we're giving their cells heroine? Overactive cells produce cancer, Thanos," the general pointed out.

"It's a serum with brain, it controls the speed of mitosis," Thanos explained, sounding amazed at what he was saying.

"Impossible! Thanos, you're playing God with this stuff," firmly stated, starting to oppose the serum.

"We need to expierement, General. We need to test it on humans. It's been succssful on all other animals."

"What are the side affects?" Addie asked.

"Enhanced brain usage. One can use almost all the capacity of his or her brain."

"That's insane!"

"A person can become unstable, but look at what we have created!"

"You've created humans that can't die, and could temporarily be legally insane. How do you explain _that _to the test bunnies out there?" Addie demanded.

"You don't. Don't tell them what it is," an instructor suggested.

"That's cheap, and inhumane. Who are the test bunnies anyways?" The general looked at Addie, at Thanos, and then at the paper. He read off the names slowly, and then gave a reason why.

"Patrick Jones; he's a hard worker and dedicated student. Henry Jackman because we feel terrible for his lack of ability and he has a bigger heart than most people. And lastly, Slade Wils--"

"What?!" Addie objected, "Why jepordize our best soldier?!"

"Because he is our best," the general calmly explained.

"This could change his life and the rest of their lives forever, General. I don't think we should do it."

"But our men, Addie," the instructor insisted, "our army would be literally undefeatable!"

"Does it matter when our men's well being lie on the cutting board?"

"I will only say yes to this project if you promise me this, Thanos: promise me that you will find a serum to this monster of a discovery," the general proposed.

"We are working on it right now, I swear it to you sir." Thanos quickly answered.

"A lie!" Addie shrieked, "General, it is a lie!"

"I will check it out. As for now, the serum is to be inject at oh-eight hundred hours on Sunday morning."

A/N: Thanks for reading, and as usual, any sort of critic is welcomed. .


	6. The Serum

**Present Day**

Noises. He swore he heard them like a constant symphony. They were large enough to hear, but small enough to start the heart rate.

"I know you are there! I can hear you like a cat! Come out, come out!" he screamed. Silence. _Dead _silence. "Bastard ghosts…figments of my fragile imagination. I can't even blame it on the alcohol; fucking enhancement serum. Fuck you serum." The noises ceased for the time being, but Slade had an ere feeling that they would be back to haunt him again.

-xXx

Rachel straightened out the last picture that was meant for the apartment. She put her hands on her hips with approval and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. With Peter at work, it left her some alone time to work on the house and the new story she was writing. But being home alone got, well, lonely.

She grabbed her jacket to walk around the new town. It refreshed old story ideas or sparked new ones. She pressed the down button on the elevator and shoved her hands in her jacket pocket, waiting impatiently. The bell ringed and the doors separated, she stepped in and felt around for the box of cigarettes she left in her jacket pocket earlier. She then remembered to press the lobby level floor button and stood up against the door so she could escape the tiny room as fast as possible.

"Rachel? Rachel _New_?!" Rachel turned around.

"Cathy! It's so good to see you!" Rachel ran up to her friend and hugged her.

"I haven't seen you in forever. What brings you here?"

"My fiancé, actually," she smiled.

"Oh that's wonderful Rachel. I'm so happy for you. Are you free for a little lunch? That's were I was headed actually," Cathy asked pointing to the near sandwich shop.

"That would be great. This is so…convenient that I found a friend here. Almost scary, right?" Rachel mused.

"It's nice to see a face from memory lane," Cathy smiled.

**Roughly Seventy-Five Years Ago**

"I don't know if I should tell you, I don't even know how to tell you if I was to tell you," Addie paced.

"Just tell me, Addie. Is it something bad?" Slade asked, interested. The more she paced, the more Slade wanted to wring the answer out of her. Not knowing made him more anxious to know.

"They're going to make you invincible!" Addie blurted.

"That's bad?" Slade asked, astonished, "I thought that was good. Especially for a soldier."

"Here's the catch, you can't die."

"Once again," Slade paused, "Why is that bad?"

"Once you get the serum, that's it. You can't reverse the process. The company swears they are working on a serum to reverse the one they are injecting, but I can see right through them. Slade, you are on the list to be tested. I don't want you on that list," she explained, concerned.

"I'm on the list? Is Jones?"

"Yes but—"

"That's an honor, Addie! Addie, I want to be the best soldier possible. And if it means sacrificing a little time _not _being able to die, then I'm going to do it." Slade insisted.

"No. Slade I can see right through Thanos. He's just selling a product with no guarantees. It's dangerous. You're a test bunny, don't you see that? It may even cause you to die!" Addie cried.

"If the army trusts it, I trust it. You know how much I want to rank here."

"You are acting like a child! Listen to m—"

"I _am_ a child Addie! I'm younger than anyone in this camp, and I'm working my ass off to get somewhere. And if it means getting stuck by a needle and adding a few extra years to my life, then by all means I'm going to do it!" Slade roared. Addie fell silent to his rage. Never had he seen him so angry. He believed in this and trusted it with his life. If she kept on rejecting Slade's testing period the general and such would become suspicious and find them out. She had to obey his wishes, for their sake.

"Fine. Go back to your bunk, Wilson. I will see you in 0800 hours," she stated dryly. Her voice was hushed, and she turned her back towards him. Slade attempted to apologize.

"You don't understand. This is the only life I know. If I leave these ways, I have nothing. You've got to realize that Addie." Slade hurried out of her office and headed toward his bunk. Never had he been so angry and then regretful within a five minute period. He may have been narrowed minded, but it was what he believed in, and that was end of story.

-xXx

"Well, needless to say, we broke up about a week after high school and haven't talked since," Cathy sighed. Then she sat in silence as Rachel exhaled sadly. "I can't believe we lost touch after I moved here."

"To be honest, I even forgot you were out here," Rachel said with a guilty smile.

"Wow," Cathy giggled, "I feel loved."

"Sorry, I guess our lives took us different places."

"They definitely did. What a shame. But we're here, right? I never thought waking up that I'd be eating lunch with a revered pal." Rachel smiled. Cathy was always so complimentary of her. "What's your new book about?"

"Well," Rachel began, "it's about conquering life. This man, who is basically a hermit crab, finally wakes up to the world around him and sees life through a new set of eyes; but of course, not without a set of challenges. He's completely anti-social, and can't communicate with people very well. He's forced into it though, and slowly, but surely, conquers is problem."

"Wow, sounds really deep. Are you basing this off a personal experience or something?"

"No. Just an idea that popped into my lovely head," Rachel smiled.

"Uh huh. If you say so."

"Well I do. Did you read all the stuff about Deathstroke here?"

"I don't pay to much attention to it, to be honest. Any man who claims himself as a form of God in human form with a ridiculous costume, isn't worth my time," Cathy retorted.

"Ha, okay. I just find it interesting. He seems like the Slade of Jump City."

"Well the Teen Titans are slim to none. And I don't think that a bunch of nursing home prunes could defeat the likes of him anyways." Rachel laughed.

"I agree. But you're right. He's completely morbid to have the kill count that he does. Doesn't he have anything better to do?"

"Better yet, does he have _anyone_ to do?"

-xXx

"Can we get DNA from the body?" Henry asked hopefully.

"What?" Hugh retorted, "Are you insane?"

"Can we see the body?"

"It's six feet underground."

"Then get a shovel or go find out if we can. I think I'm on to something," Henry sadistically grinned.

The grave was removed from the sight after being in the ground for nearly sixty years. The carcass was removed and sent to the lab so some DNA could be extracted.

The hallway was dimly lit as Henry walked down the hall after the doctor. Thoughts came into his head, matching the rhythm of his shoe clicking on the low-grade tile floor. The town was as plain as its name, barely any life left in it at all.

"Now you must understand, that this being a very small, home oriented town, the death of the teen was very tragic as you can imagine. The parents wouldn't have agreed to this, but since they are both deceased…." Henry couldn't have cared less. His black thoughts were holding him by the neck, suffocating his better judgment.

"How are you even going to prove this Henry? Raven's body is at the monument and Slade has disappeared."

"We aren't looking for Slade, we're looking for Deathstroke."

"We have no idea who this man is. We have no fingerprints, no clues, no nothing."

"I know how we can find that. Relax Hugh…relaaax."

"The DNA does not match her parents, Captain," the scientist concluded, "Her DNA is slightly odd."

"What? How is that possible…she was born _in_ Plainville, attended these schools. All her legal documents say that she is _Rhiannon Harris_."

"She still is Rhiannon. But she's a little different then she thought she was. Look at her remains. Some of her mass is still intact. It's fresh, and smooth as a newborn's bottom."  
"Are you sure?" Henry gasped.

"Yes Captain. Look." The scientist showed Henry the photograph on a computer screen in the tiny room. "That's amazing." Henry's eyes gazed at the screen in wonder. He had found out the heritage of the dead teenager. But the more he figured out, the more there was to the story he had to uncover.

"That's precisely what we said when we saw the carcass."

"I didn't know this could be passed down…."

"Excuse me sir?"

"Oh, um…is her brain still alive? That would be terrible," Henry asked.

"No, thank goodness too."

"It's impossible," Henry blurted randomly, "This is a governmental serum. It triggers mitosis, it doesn't affect meiosis."

"How do you know that?" the scientist curiously asked, a bit excited.

"Thank you doctor, but I'm afraid it's time for me to leave. Come on Hugh, let's go _now_." Hugh got up from his chair, and shrugged in the scientist's direction, signaling that he didn't understand the matter either.

Henry opened his car door and put the keys into the ignition. Hugh ran into the car and did the same. He fiddled with his seatbelt and made sure it was fastened.

"What was that about? I mean, you _knew_ what was keeping some of her alive? Henry, answer me!"

"How did she get the serum? How?! Slade Wilson's daughter couldn't have inherited the serum! It's scientifically impossible!" Henry burst angrily. He slammed the palm of his hand into the steering wheel and turned the car on. The tires skid as he slammed on the gas and fled towards the station.


	7. Rhiannon

**Roughly Seventy-Five Years Ago**

Slade twiddled his thumbs nervously as he sat next to his two companions. He could feel his palms secreting sweat, and a shiver went through his spine. Jones swallowed hard next to him, and clicked his tongue dryly in his mouth; all of his saliva was gone. To Jones's left sat Henry. His leg was nervously shaking, as if it was on heroine. He pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed impatiently.

"Relax, bud. You're making us all nervous," Jones whined.

"Do y-you know what this is even f-for?" Henry stuttered.

"No man. Just stop talking about it. It's making me go nuts." There was a moment's silence. But the silence seemed to more than relax them. "What do you think this is all about? I mean, are we just getting some shots or something? I've never been in trouble a moment in my life."

"That's because you've never been caught," Slade smirked.

"W-why aren't you n-nervous?" Henry barely got out.

"I am," Slade looked at him with both eyes, "I'm just screaming on the inside."

"Come on man," Jones lightly backhanded Slade's arm, "Don't be such an ass."

"Y-your s-s-sarcasm isn't apprec-ciated.—"

"O-o-okay. I w-will try my h-hardest-t." Henry fell silent and turned away from the two.

"Jesus, Wilson. Give the kid a break. He can't help it," Jones defended Henry.

In the distance a door squealed open, and the General stepped through into their vision. He walked down the hallway with is large boots clumping on the tile floor. His large persona took up the entire hallway, and the three young men held their breath as he stepped in front of them. They stood quickly at attention.

"At ease soldiers; follow me please." Slade deflated a little, but his eye was still on the General. He analyzed his voice, his face, and how he walked which all pointed strongly in the wrong direction. He knew he couldn't question the General, but that doesn't mean he couldn't. Slade barely kept his question inside. "Inside are three tables with injections. Here we will place a super-human serum in your bodies and run a number of tests. After the tests are run, and the results are in our hands, we will inject another serum to rid of them first serum we put in. You must remain quiet about this project, and if you are not, serious consequences will follow your ass all the way home. Now, please, step in the room," he opened the door and ushered the three young soldiers in. A blast of cold air ran down their backs.

"Sorry boys. It's a little chilly in here. The serum has to be kept a little chilled. All of you take your seats. I'm sure the General was kind enough to explain to serum and all its effects," a pause followed is words. Even in the below comfortable temperature, Thanos broke a sweat. "Alright doctors, strap them in." Al three men nervously swung their bodies onto the beds. Three boxlike cases were but on the tables next to the beds and gently opened. An injector similar to the shape of a gun lay inside, filled with the enhancement juice.

"Is this even better than steroids?" Slade joked with a jerky smile.

"At least you can pass away from steroids," the doctor coldly replied. The comment stuck him as if an icicle went right through him. As a naïve teenager, living forever seemed to be the All American Dream; its curse would never faze him until it was too late. "Hey Jones," Slade spat, "Will you still be my second place after this is all over?" Jones smiled.

"I'll still be second place if you'll still be first place," Jones called back.

"Alright then. Let's get this shit over with!"

Henry shook from the cold and tried to keep his nerves down. It didn't help the doctor that was with him was as stiff as board, and had no sympathy in his dark brown eyes.

"Will th-this h-h-hurt?" Henry jittered.

"If you keep on moving like this the needle is gunna prick yah a few more times than yah like, alright? Just stay the hell still," the doctor replied.

Slade's adrenaline went array as he sat in the chair waiting for the injection. The doctor opened the metal case and carefully took the injector gun out. He waved it around as if he had the most powerful weapon that ever was.

"Please stay as still as possible," the doctor asked of Slade.

The hallows from the three grown men could have brought tears to one's eye. They writhed trying to rid themselves of the pain.

"Don't move or your veins will rip!" a doctor shouted.

-xXx

**Present Day**

Rachel ran into her apartment and dashed for the phone. She picked it up, nearly dropping it in the excitement. She an unsteady hand she dialed Cathy's number.

"Come on…come on Cathy," she impatiently chanted through gritted teeth.

"Hi there—"

"Cathy I nee—"

"—and leave a message after the—"

"Damn it!" Rachel slammed the phone down. She grabbed her purse and took the address she had written down for her to send her rough draft of her story and dashed out of the house.

-xXx

"He's such a mess," the scientist commented about Henry, "a fool to think that Deathstroke and Slade Wilson are one in the same." He grabbed the white cloth and waved it out so it would cover the decaying body of the teen. Oddly enough, it seemed that the body had a plan to defy death.

Patches of fresh tissue started to appear on her instead of the lackluster skin that once was. The pace quickened like a virus; the dead organs were coming back to life. The scientist watched in horror, his motor functions frozen. There was nothing he could do but wait for the once decaying body to come back to life for a second chance.

Her new heartbeat echoed around the small room, and her erratic breathing brought his hairs to rise. Her flesh started to form, her young curves came alive. The scientist blushed and put the white cloth over her. He rubbed the temples of his head in a frustrated manner. What was going to happen when she became conscious? He lifted the sheet to see if the last little bit of her process was done. Her eyes sprung open and inhaled a large gulp of air and sat up.

"Robin!" she gasped with vigor on her breath. To her dismay she looked around the room and found that it wasn't Robin standing with the white lab coat, but a man she has never seen. "Who are you? And what am I doing here?" She jumped off the table without noticing her nudity.

"Miss," he blushed hard, "You're nude." Rhiannon looked down and paused. She quickly grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around her body.

"Where are the Titans, is this in Titan's Tower?"

"Ma'am, the Titans are _dead_," He spoke softly.

"That's not true. I was fighting Robin, and I—" She went silent. "Can you take me to Titan's Tower?"

"We are in Plainsville, where—"He couldn't bring himself to say that it had been sixty years since her death, and yet she stood just as old as when she died, alive.

"What am I doing here?" she grunted throwing her free hand up in the air.

"Can you take me to my parent's house?" She asked innocently.

"Sure, just let me get you a lab coat or something to cover yourself."

Rhiannon hopped back up onto the table. She remembered getting into a heavy fight with Robin and her mother, but couldn't remember anything after. Did she black out from using so much energy? She couldn't understand why the man told her that the Titans were dead. Did she mistakenly kill all of them?

"Here you are, take this and I'll lend you my jacket."

She opened the door, and stepped outside. She got into the car, slammed the door shut, and asked, "When was this building built?"

"About ten years ago."

"That's funny, because I don't remember it at all."

-xXx

Rachel banged on the front door of her friends apartment door. A moment later, Cathy answered.

"I have to tell you something, and you promise you cannot tell anyone, you understand?"

"Rachel, you're pale…come in, come in. I'm in the middle of cooking dinner though, so make yourself at home. Grab a glass of wine!" Cathy called after her. "So what happened that's so secret?"

"Well, you can tell people, they just may look at you like you have two heads. I had a brush with the infamous Deathstroke."

"A brush? What do you mean by a brush?"

"The situation was accidental…."

-xXx

Slade strolled into the park, his mask and suit on, after his once and a while check on his estranged son, daughter-in-law, and family. Sam rarely opened his house for his struggling father, and Slade made no move to make it any different. Though in yearning for companionship, he sat outside the windows and checked up on the happy family.

In the distance light footsteps could be heard, and Slade rushed behind a nearby tree, and waited for the person to pass. He had gotten lazy and it was getting dangerous. He couldn't bear to have his identity known or his pitiful world of darkness disturbed. The person was coming up to the tree, and Slade glanced in curiosity to see who the passing being was.

_"Raven?_" Slade's jaw dropped a little as he studied her features: light skin, dark hair, and sulky appearance. There could be no mistaking it was her. The Raven he knew was dead, he was sure of it. He watched her die, to save that wretched fool. How could his senses be mistaken? He couldn't resist pursuing this replica. Swift as a fox he made his way in front of her, and stepped out from the shadow into the light of the pathway. Her face lit in confusion, as she saw the illuminated figure.

"What is your name?" he abruptly demanded, his voice booming in the silence.

As if she answered against her will she whispered, "Rachel."

"Come closer so I can see your face." She did just that. As if in a pleasurable trance she motioned forward. Her eyes sparkled with dreamy thought in awe. "You know nothing of a woman named Raven?"

"No," she breathed weakly. He reached out and touched her face with his gloved hand.

"You are not frightened? Not even a bit disturbed?" Slade asked.

"Of what?" she curtly inquired, "You haven't given me any reason not to trust you." Slade smiled underneath the mask.

"You are so blissfully innocent. I have truly forgotten the gift of being young. But I am disappointed. Honestly, you do not know who I am?" His blood boiled. How could she not be aware that the man standing in front of her was a wanted criminal for seemingly countless crimes?

"Deathstroke. You are really tall in person," she mused aloud.

"Maybe you are just shorter in reality," he snipped. He dropped his hand and went to recede into the shadows.

"Wait!" Rachel called after him, "Who is Raven anyhow?"

Slade paused.

"My wife."

"_Why'd you tell her that?"_

He sped off in fear of her probing further. The two of them were similar, _too_ similar. Was this Raven's way of speaking to him through the grave? Ah! What a revelation. Maybe this Raven look-alike was a blessing in disguise.

-xXx

"That's not my mom's car in the driveway. And the house…my mom hated yellow…. I've only been gone, for what, a week?" Rhiannon mused.

"It's been a lot longer than a week."

"Two or three?"

"Try three thousand one hundred and twenty."

"What? You're such an ass," Rhiannon opened the car door in frustration. He followed.

"You really don't know what year it is, and how long you've been dead?"

"Stop saying that," she rebutted near tears, "they're alive, just like my parents!" He let her bathe in denial. She wouldn't believe him until she saw for her own eyes that sixty years really did past, and that all the people she knew and loved were gone. Rhiannon defiantly headed towards the door and looked under the mat. No key. She banged on the door three loud times. She jiggled the locked doorknob that was engulfed in her stern grip. No answer. Rhiannon slightly collapsed on the door in disbelief. The door clicked and her senses perked. The door swung open and she burst into jumbled words.

"Ohmygosh Mom---," A young man of about twenty one stared back at her in a disheveled outfit. He looked like he hadn't attended to himself in days. For all she knew, the stranger hadn't.

"Um, I mean…do the Harris's live here anymore?" Rhiannon politely asked.

"Er no. Sorry. Do you need any help? Maybe some clothes?" he asked rudely.

"Clothes would be nice," she said turning her head and hunching her back.  
"I don't think my wife would mind lending one of her million outfits."

"Hey wait up!" the scientist called out to Rhiannon and the stranger. Both the stranger and Rhiannon looked back at him. "What? Just want to make sure my girlfriend is okay, alright?" Rhiannon shot him a look of confusion.

"He's not going to harm me _honey_."

"You never know, _sweetie_," he said with a forced smiled. "Just get the clothes and let's hit the road."

"Not to be an ass or anything, but why are you traveling in a lab coat with your boyfriend knocking on a stranger's house?" the stranger asked, scratching his messy head of hair.

Rhiannon and the scientist looked at each other. They both had no response.


	8. Dale S Has His First Date

"You're an asshole Jones."

"Glad to think that you think of me in such high regards."

Slade gritted his teeth. He regretted striking the deal with him. Jones with a smirk that wasn't so secretive crept on his face. Slade wanted to smash the tea cup that was delicately in Jones's hands into his skull.

"It's an absurd request. You and I both know it," Slade angrily blurted.

"I just don't know why you're so upset. The Slade I remember would jump at an option to--,"

"Yeah, well times are different."

"You made a deal," Jones grinned. Slade sensed a malicious intent. "You're acting like your twelve. It's not like you have to marry the girl. Just ask for a date."

"I don't know her, or her number, or anything," Slade retorted.

"I think you have the means to find her Slade Wilson." Jones got up from his chair and went beyond the door into the kitchen, leaving Slade to seethe.

-xXx

"Wait…so he asked to get a better look at you? I think you have a super-villain who has a crush on you!" Cathy blurted childishly.

"Peter _would _be horribly jealous," Rachel joked with a smile.

"Do you think you'll ever see him again?"

"I don't think so. Oh, but he touched my face ever so gently. I could feel the warmth of his body on his gloved hand, ah! It was so…oh! Wait," she frowned, "I asked who Raven was and he said his wife. I just don't understand why he would mistake me for her if she was still around. Maybe they're divorced?"

"Or worse…maybe they're still married."

"Hush Cathy! You've become completely irrational and foolish," Rachel hissed.

"I know," Cathy sighed disappointedly. There was a long silence and then Rachel abruptly got up.

"Where are you going so fast?"  
"I've been gone way too long. Peter will think--,"

"Just call the man Rachel."

"I know, but I'd like to be home anyways. Do you think I should tell him?"

"Peter? Maybe. I mean, you just had a brush with the most wanted villain in possibly the whole entire country. That's exciting news," Cathy smiled brightly.

"Thank you so much for listening. I'll keep you posted when my "stalker" returns," Rachel laughed.

"You better!" Cathy called after her as Rachel left the apartment.

-xXx

Rhiannon closed the door gently in the stranger's home after hastily ushering the scientist inside.

"Out of all things to say you say I'm your girlfriend!" Rhiannon hissed.

"I needed an excuse to get in the room with you!" she rolled her eyes and snorted displeased. "That's not what I meant. This is no longer your house, it's a strangers. He could harm you."

"I'm a big girl who is quite capable to take care of herself, doctor. Now could you please turn around so I can dress my self. By the way, what's your name?"

"Jason and yours is Rae?"

"Rhiannon. How'd you--?"

"It was on your file."

"Right. Look, can you take me to Titan's Tower?"

"Why do you want to tour a museum at this time? Why don't you just come back to my place? I'll get you a few outfits or something and we'll figure out what you're going to do as far as living."

"Look Jason…it's Jason right?...I still don't really believe that it has been sixty years. Yes, this town looks a lot different, but I'm still not completely convinced. It can't be true. Dead…for sixty years? How is that scientifically possible?! Just take me to the tower. Appease me." Jason sighed.

"Why don't we head back to my place for the night? After we get some cheap clothes or something so you don't look like a prostitute. Do _those _clothes even fit?" Rhiannon turned around frustrated with the fact that the clothes loosely fit her.

"I look like a rich vagabond. Let's go shopping before I get so embarrassed I put a garbage bag over my head." He smiled. If he had to be stuck with anyone, he was glad it was her.

"Thanks for the clothes. I hope your wife doesn't mind too much," Rhiannon politely thanked.

"Like I said, I don't think she'll miss one outfit for a good cause. She'll just rake the money out of me anyways. So, no problem," the stranger warmly responded. He hung loosely on the door as he watched Jason and Rhiannon make their way towards the car. They got in the car, waved, and left the driveway.

"So, is your place nice?"

"It suits me well," Jason curtly answered.

"So it's like a crazy bachelor pad with money flowing like water?"

"My job pays well. I'm lucky I was in the right place at the right time and knew the people I did. I got this job and I'm fairly good at it."

"So it's like a crazy bachelor pad with money flowing like water?" Rhiannon insisted with attitude.

"If you'd like to think that, then yes…that's the type of home I have."

"The house that we went to and I grew up in; those people were not my parents. They were not my birth parents," Rhiannon blurted.

"What? Why are you telling me this?" Jason glared at her in confusion.

"Because according to you their dead, and sixty years has past so I mind as well tell you our family secrets. The music is crap on here anyway, and I want to talk. The silence feels more awkward than talking excessively."

"Like you're doing now?"

"Look, if you would just stop feeding me this bullshit that sixty years have passed then we'd all be fine, okay? Just drop me off at the police station and I'll hunt down Mr. and Mrs. Harris."

"They're going to lead you straight to a grave yard. Or at least a nursing home for the "not-really-sure-how-they're-still-living-after-sixty-years" people."

"Shut the fuck up!" Rhiannon screamed. Jason slammed on his breaks and simultaneously shifted the car to the side of the road.

"You think you don't need my help, then get the _hell_ out of my car. I don't need your adolescent bullshit," Jason looked her right in the eyes. His stare was pure and stable; he reminded her much of Justin.

"Take me to 30 Grove Court. I'll leave you alone there," Rhiannon meekly responded. She curled up to door of the car and waited uneasily and impatiently to arrive at Justin's doorstep. He was seventeen the last time she saw him, it would only make him seventy-one now. Too bad he was dead.

-xXx

"You look rather spiffy," Jones commented coolly.

"A date must be properly asked," Slade snipped.

"Dressing this nice and its not the first date?"

"I was hoping that this would be the first date."

"At ten o'clock? Alive nearly a century and you still surprise me," Jones sneered.

"I'm not doing this to please you."

"Oh? Then why are you following through?" Slade wasn't going to give Jones the satisfaction that he was in charge.

"I have a lady friend to attend to. Good night," Slade said and promptly left to the park where Rachel and he first had an encounter. Since then he carefully slipped a letter with no return address under her door. He carefully followed her each day to see where she was going. When she went to her friend's apartment, he knew she had gotten it. He enjoyed leaning against the wall to hear her suppressed gasps of delight. Slade waited patiently for this night, trying not to get over excited for he feared Rachel's life. A man, who lacks lust, lacks the function to communicate on a proper level with any woman. Wrong or right, that's how he felt.

He paced around the bench where he told her to meet. He looked at his watch, meticulously kept for a number of years, and impatiently grunted. He couldn't stand showing his face to the public, even if it was ten o'clock at night.

-xXx

"Where could you be going at ten o'clock at night?" Peter asked sitting down on the couch.

"I'm getting inspired," Rachel smirked.

Peter chuckled. "In a nice dress? In fact, you look rather ravishing. Ravishing is a good word to use. A complicated word; just as you like them," he said getting up from the couch and placing a hand on her waste.

"Oh Peter stop! You're going to ruin this spark of thought!" she squirmed out of his grasp. She placed a peck on his forehead and headed out to the elevator.

She couldn't contain her excitement, and let out a few short yelps in the privacy of the elevator. The doors dinged open and she walked out with poise and purpose. A small buzz shuddered against her leg and her appearance was shattered by a frightened yelp. The pleasant old man at the desk smiled and she left the apartment complex onto the city streets red with embarrassment. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Cathy had texted her.

"I am not even there yet," Rachel said aloud while punching in the numbers on her touch screen phone, "I will be there in a minute." Cathy impatiently texted back, "Hurry, you're late!" Rachel exited out of the text in frustration. "Ah, not even there yet and she's already pestering me." However, annoyed her friend couldn't bother her airy state of mind. She had nearly memorized the note that was placed under her door.

"Dearest Rachel, This letter is to inform you that I request a second meeting. Obviously you can decline considering the circumstance of this relationship, if you will, isn't normal. If you accept just slip a written yes on a piece of paper under your front door and I will know. Awaiting your reply, The Stranger in the Park," she recited on a whisper. He was a cliché case of a book of secrets. A masked killer meets his love on a chilly fall night…a lovely romance plot. The perfect inspiration she promised Peter.

Rachel jaywalked across the street to the park and walked serenely towards the spot where she first met him. His looming figure was there leaning against the light post. Her heart began to pump her blood faster, and she could feel the adrenaline seep into her veins. She rolled her engagement ring around her finger a couple of times, contemplating. Quickly, she thrust it off her finger and placed it in her jacket pocket.

-xXx

She finally appeared in the darkness, and Slade stepped out of the light to greet her.

"Hello Rachel," he spoke eloquently and put out his hand so she could slide hers into it. She let her hand meet his and he brought it to his lips. "Smooth hands, it means you are catered for."

"I live well," Rachel muttered quietly.

"Ah, don't be ashamed."

"If I may ask—"

"You can."

"—what is your name?" Slade paused. He couldn't say Deathstroke, he'd look redundant.

"Dale…Dale S.," he creatively lied.

"Well I have so many questions for you Dale. See, you've inspired my stories—"

"So you're a writer?" Slade asked.

"Yes, I only have one book out, but I have a lot of—"

"Why don't we talk about interests and such before my career? I have asked you on a date, not an interview." Rachel blushed.

"I'm sorry, it's the nerves. I'm a nervous talker, as you can probably tell. Here, why don't we step into the light, so we can actually see each other?" Rachel suggested. Slade willing stepped backwards into the artificial light. His tuxedo clung to his muscled body, and his black dress jacket's collar was popped, as the young people like to say it. His facial features were strong, and the light cast shadows that accented his face. His blue eyes had a deep blue undertone of sadness, with specks of green happy memories. His hair was now white which gave him an aged appeal. His eye patch strapped hugged his face, and the circle covered the eye that had been out of order for many years. "You look…handsome." She couldn't help but keep a goofy grin on her face.

"You look stunning in black, my kind of woman I must admit." Slade smirked. She wasn't Raven, but complimenting her came easy to him. Her black hair was in a sloppy pony tail and make up neatly done. The dress fit her nicely, he could tell under her jacket. Her legs were slender but strong; it must have been from the four inch heels she wore. "I also admit I'm not very up to date with how to date a woman, so excuse me if I come off rude."

"You haven't so far." Rachel smiled.

The conversation went silent. Slade knew she was going to pry him about his personal endeavors, and he couldn't blame her because there really was a lot to pry about.

"So are you married?"

"My wife passed away."

"Oh, oh my gosh…Dale I'm so sorry. That must have been so hard. Any kids?"

"Two. How did you figured I was married?"

"You told me remember? You mistook me for her. I guess you still long for her."

Slade looked over at her as she looked ahead. "It's been a hard road."

"Well, on a lighter note…." Rachel tried to start a happier conversation.

"I hope you're hungry."

"I had dinner a few hours ago, but I think I have a little room for more." She smiled up at him. Her grin couldn't have made him more satisfied.


	9. Rejection and Name Recollection

"Dad? I haven't seen you in ages." Henry looked at his son with tired puffy eyes. His suit jacket was slung over his arm and his white shirt was ruffled and disheveled. He held a stack of papers in his hands about the size of an old PC screen and his pants were clung to his hips below his little belly. "We were worried."

"Thanks but I don't think your mother was worried. She didn't call my cell once," Henry said looking as if his legs were about to give out any moment.

"Oh really Henry?" Claire stepped into the room with a force that nearly knocked Henry to the ground. "I called at least ten times the first night and thirty the second! If your cell was on it would have made things a lot easier. Come on Ben; let me and your father hash this out. Go make sure Rachel is asleep." Ben hurried up the stairs and gave his father one last melancholy look.

"Can I at least put my stuff down?" Henry whined.

"Fine, let's go into your office." Claire got into the stuffy small room and closed the doors.

"Where have you been? Henry this is the most stupid shit you've pulled since we were married. We have two kids that were worried sick about you, and I had no idea what to tell them. What should I tell them Henry? Should I have told them you were sleeping with your secretary or gone to the loony bin for good?! Come on Henry at least look at me when I'm fighting with you!" Henry pulled his face downward with his hand impatiently.

"I wasn't sleeping with my receptionist. I just went away for a bit with this case."

"Oh, like I'm supposed to believe that Henry."

"Yeah…you are."

"You son of a bitch."

"Look, let's not get my mom into this." Claire was furious. Her husband had finally come home and all he had to say were some smartass remarks about her mother-in-law.

"Damn it Henry. I actually thought we were going to get through this. I really did. I want a divorce now. Not tomorrow night or sometime next week where I can schedule an appointment with your sex companion. I want it _now_."

"I wasn't sleeping with her Claire! God damn it! I went to Plainsville to see if I can connect all the damn killings. It's my job, and if you want to think I was joyriding my receptionists, then fine…have a blast thinking about my penis in her vagina. I don't give a damn anymore. You've bitched about my job since day one and I've given you everything you've every dreamed. Look at this Claire. Look at this house, this desk, this chair, and our children."

"Don't you dare bring them into this Henry, don't you dare!" Claire's eyes began to flood with salty tears.

"Claire look at us, we've come so far just to drop everything." Henry tried to move closer to her but she kept taking steps towards the door.

"How far have we come? Look at us fighting like this. This isn't healthy or even normal. Our marriage is nothing."

"How can you even say that?"

"Because for eighteen years I've been either taking care of the kids or you! I'm tired of waiting for you to come home or for you to grow up and stop talking to me about work or life on the street but about life in our own home!" Claire screamed. She began to sob heavily and covered her face with her hands. Henry realized there was no ring on her finger and figured she'd figured him out when he didn't come back for the second night. She was right; he hasn't been home or a good husband or father. And now that the case of his life thus far was just picking up he had to make the hardest decision of his life.

"Claire I love you and I'm sorry." He kissed her gently on the forehead and walked out of the office.

-xXx

Steph smiled. "Dad you've gone mad. I swear it. You've completely lost your grip."

"Come on, I can't be that terrible."

"Did you tell Sam?"

"No."

"Don't you think you should?"

Slade sighed. Steph was no longer a teenager but a grown woman and was more like her mother every day. She had a wisdom to her that as each year grew and grew. Despite her smarts, she was in a relationship that was stably unstable. The two were together for a few months and then drifted apart for a few more.

"What about oh what's his name…Jared? Dave? Nate?"

"Dad, don't go changing the subject."

"Or was it Craig. No, that's not right."

"Dad."

"He doesn't want me in his life Steph. He's made that clear."

"And you listened to him? You listened to your naïve, stubborn, self absorbed son?"

"Well if you put it that way…," Slade said.

"Give me a break, Dad. You gave your grandkids a life without their grandfather! How--."

"Naïve, stubborn, and self absorbed is that? Very. Hm. Now that you mention Sam is that way, I'm not surprised why."

"I want you to go over there," Steph said.

"Why?"

"Just because. Walk in to the house and say hi to Jessica for me, will you?"

"Alright. Only if you say hi to Luke…Mike…or is it Troy?"

"Good bye Dad," she said perturbed.

"It's Dave isn't it?!" The door slammed in his face.

-xXx

Rhiannon paced to the front door and rang the doorbell. She wanted to believe so sixty years hadn't passed and it was all just a lie. She wished that Jason was just toying with her and would just leave her alone. She yearned to be in the comfort of Justin's arms and was very close to bursting open the front door so she could do just that.

"Rhiannon? Rhiannon Harris?" An older woman answered the door.

"Yes."

"My goodness, I must be going to heaven now. Oh my lord. Rhiannon you are supposed to be six feet under. Oh my goodness. Alex call a coffin making place, I'm going to heaven!" The woman seemed to be sliding off her rocker right in front of Rhiannon.

"Excuse me, but how do you know me? I've never seen you before. I'm looking for Justin!"

"Alex! This apparition wants to see Justin! Dear ghost of Rhiannon you should be able to find him in heaven. He's been long dead too I'm afraid. Maybe there are too any ghosts like you in heaven!"

"I'm not a ghost. I'm really Rhiannon ma'am," Rhiannon said.

"If it isn't too rude, but may I ask to poke you?" the old woman asked.

"Um, sure."

The woman pointed out her finger as if she was going to see if Jesus was actually walking on water or glass. Her aged eyes became oceans of wonder as she poked the shoulder of an old friend.

"Lauren?" Rhiannon asked.

"Oh my god. Rhiannon it _is_ you." Rhiannon faintly smiled. She noticed Jason was still at the end of the driveway. She turned to look at him, and it looked like he was going to drive away. Rhiannon jumped off the front stairs in a panic and rushed to the car. Jason looked at her in alarm as she banged on the window. He quickly rolled it down.

"Jason I'm sorry. I believe you, I believe you!" Tears streamed out of her eyes. He couldn't leave her now.

Lauren struggled with the cup of tea, and her husband Alex sat close to her with a hand on her thigh.

"How is this possible?" Lauren asked.

"I'm not sure, ma'am. I saw her come back from the dead, and I can't explain it. I've never seen something like this happen before in my life," Jason answered. Rhiannon sat shocked next to Jason. Her tear stained face was pale and sad.

"I'm sorry you had to hear about Justin, Rhiannon. He loved you, that was for sure."

"How did he die?" Rhiannon asked.

"A bomb," Lauren sobbed.

"A what?"

"A bomb. So terrible. Oh it was horrible. And guess who was at the scene? Slade and Raven! Raven died that night too I heard. Slade disappeared and never returned…it was the strangest day I've ever seen." Rhiannon began to shake.

"Raven…. And Slade? Is he still alive?"

"Oh I wouldn't bet on it. No one can find him. The scene was never explained really either. All the cops had to say was that I had a dead brother." Lauren put a hand to her mouth and Alex began rubbing her leg consoling her.

"There was an officer, Rhiannon, who came into the room before you came back to life. He was trying to say that you were Deathstroke's daughter," Jason said.

"That's impossible. Deathstroke would have to be a hundred or more years old. Antiques usually don't go killing people, it's not their forte," Alex said.

"He also said that Deathstroke and Slade were one in the same. His partner kept on calling him crazy like I would have."

"Do you know where Deathstroke is?"

"Yes, everyone does. He's in the news all the time."

"Jason," Rhiannon turned to him with an angry stare, "Can you bring me to him?"

"Ha, are you kidding me Rhiannon?"

"Jason I'm serious. I need to find my father."

All three of them shared a simultaneous gasp.

-xXx

"So how was it?" Jones questioned.

"It was nice."

"Come on Wilson. You can give me more description than that."

"It was _really_ nice."

Jones rubbed the palm of his hand on his eyebrows in a frustrated manner. "Please Wilson? Think of it as apart of the agreement." Slade glared at him. "Or not…. Look Slade, I did this just to get you out in the real world. I've seen you've lost touch with it since your wife died."

"Ask on Thursday. We're going out to dinner."

-xXx

Rachel dialed Cathy's number the next morning after she kissed Peter goodbye for the day.

"Hello?"

"Hi Cathy!"

"So…how was it?"

"I don't know how to really put it into words really. It was scary at first, but then exciting. He was a gentleman and slightly personable if you could get over a minor chill he sometimes had. We talked like old friends. It was the weirdest thing. I was shaking like a leaf. We're going out to a proper dinner on Thursday."

"Wait, what? A second date…already?" Cathy was astonished.

"Yes," Rachel said, "I guess the first one went alright to have another."

"Did he kiss you?"

Rachel laughed. "No he didn't. Like I said…he was a gentleman."

"I don't know about you, but I find that odd."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a villain Rachel. He kills people for a living, but yet he's calm cool and collected."

"It's sexy."

"Hmm, the last time I checked murder wasn't on the list of the top ten most attractive qualities in a man. But whatever floats your boat I guess," Cathy said.

"Yes, well I have to go. Peter is home. I'll talk to you later," Rachel said.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Rachel hung up the phone and turned her attention to her fiancé. He came home from another day of work a little more tired than normal. She figured to give him a little extra attention tonight.

"Hi Peter," she cooed.

"Hi Rachel," he responded.

"I made your favorite." Rachel said setting the roast beef down on the table set for two.

"Oh? Thanks. Today was really rough." He kissed on her cheek.

"Yeah, you look rather exhausted. Why what was so bad?"

"People Rachel; people are bad." He sighed and took a bottle of wine from the liquor cabinet and picked up two glasses. He poured a sufficient amount for the two of them and set them on the table. Rachel placed the mashed potatoes and string beans down with their proper serving spoons. Peter sliced the roast and served it while Rachel sat and admired. He was the perfect companion. He was tender and warm, like the roast he was cutting, and could always manage to make her smile…even when she felt she couldn't.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh nothing. Just looking."

He smirked. "There is nothing to look at love."

"Peter stop it. Though, you could cut that meat a little faster. I'm a bit hungry." He slopped a piece of meat on her place and rushed the plate in front of her.

"Was that fast enough Rachel dear?"

"Yes thank you Peter honey." He took his time placing his meat on his plate and sat down ready to dress his plate with mashed potatoes and green beans. Rachel, with every intention of spiting him scooped up a clump of mashed potatoes as large as two fists and dumped it on his plate. He looked at it with gluttony and then and smirk weaseled its way onto his face. He picked up his spoon and scooped up some potatoes and childishly flung them at her.

"Peter!" she screamed.

"Goal!" he said while he flung his hands up into the air. Rachel quickly grabbed a napkin and picked up the glob and put the napkin down with frustration on the table. "Oh come on babe, it was just some playful fun."

"You could have ruined my shirt," she said trying to hold back a laugh.

"Could have doesn't mean I did."

Rachel smiled and started to cut into her meat.


	10. Enter, Rachel

**Roughly Seventy-five Years Ago**

Slade wiped the blood the came from a cut on his lip and staggered backwards. He couldn't believe he barely felt the blow from Henry. A scrawny little twig had delivered the most successful hit of his life and Slade was barely numb to the feeling. But he wasn't numb to noticing that Henry had now a developed slight of hand; he was swinging around a small blade. He had no defense to the new tactic, and was ready to fight him off at all costs. Henry came at him and Slade knocked his hand away with his forearm, but Henry still came back with a stab to his ribcage. Once again the pain was minimal. He reflexively grabbed his wound, and looked down at the blood coming through his shirt. He lifted it, and he watched his deep blemish heal itself to brand new. Both Henry and Slade marveled at the incident and wondered how far the healing power stretched. For an hour they broke ribs, hands, and ankles and watched them heal with awe until the godly voice of the overhead speakers told them to stop. They both stopped reluctantly and Slade looked beyond the glass ad Addie's tear stained face. The worst blow was yet to come.

"You have no idea how hard it was to watch that." Her voice was raspy with a clogged nose. She was worrying herself sick.

"At least it worked. It _really_ worked for Henry."

"Slade, it worked for the both of you. That ability that he has, you have…and you're a natural!"

"Thanks, look, I have to go talk to Jones about this—."

"Wait." She grabbed his shoulder. "I need to talk to you a bit longer."

"Can't this wait?" Slade said annoyed.

"No Slade." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small ring box.

"Addie no…." She wiped her tears and gently kissed the box as if it was a baby.

"I've made my decision. I can not go on with this. You've become a test animal in the army's eyes and I can't protect you from that. I don't have any say in shielding you. I want to start a life with you, but how can I if your government property?" Tears escaped her eyes as she outstretched the box toward him.

"No. The government doesn't own me, I own me. I can quit anytime."

"You can't, you really can't. You're an experiment. They need you." Addie was in tears and Slade motioned to comfort her but she pulled away.

"Addie wait."

"No, Slade, I won't do this."

"No seriously Addie, wait. I think something is wr--."

-xXx

**Present Day**

He pulled down on his suit jacket and nervously smoothed his pants. He knocked three times; two wasn't enough to be heard and more than four could be meant as friendly. He heard excited footsteps and the turning of the knob. The door swung open and a little ten year old boy stood in its frame. Behind him, his mother approached looking in disbelief. She shook her head and batted her eyes as if she was suffering a nightmare and then bent down to the child.

"What did I tell you not to do?"

"Open the door."

"Right, and what did you do?"

"Open the door."

"Next time there will be no T.V. for the night," she scolded. He nodded and quickly ran away. "You haven't changed a bit and how old are you?"

"I'm as old as I look. Is Sam here?"

"Yes, he's in the kitchen." Slade walked in and Jess closed the door. She led him to the back of the house.

"Sam, someone is here for you." Sam turned with a dish in his hand, but after his eyes made contact with his father's, he dropped it.

"It's a better reaction than I thought it would be," Slade said and started to grab the pieces.

"No, don't. I got it. You two have a lot of catching up to do," Jess said while taking the towel from Sam to clean the plate up.

Slade and Sam went up into Sam's bedroom and shut the door.

"Look, it's nice that you came, but you really have no place here."

"Sam, you're my son. I have grandchildren whose names I don't even know."

"So? You made it like that. While you were too busy being selfish I was starting a family. You missed it Dad, you didn't let yourself in to this family."

Slade looked down and sighed. "I understand that, but I'm here now." Sam held back from smiling.

"What do I even say to them?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Slade said.

"You're too young to look like my father, never mind their grandfather. So you're a family friend."

"Sure…. So who exactly are my grandchildren?"

"Alycia is the oldest, she's seventeen. Dylan is fourteen and Stephen is ten."

"Any complications?"

"What?"

"Anything inherited from your mother or I is what I mean."

"No. Not even Kori's powers." Slade looked surprised.

"Mother nature understood our dream for normalcy." Slade laughed.

"I guess."

"Look, Steph wanted me come over. I'm surprised I did, but I think I know why I did."

Sam looked at his father's expression, twisted in thought. Maybe his father was starting to turn, for the better.

"I'm excited, genuinely excited. I'm feeling rather human again Sam. I don't want to seclude myself anymore, I want to live," Slade said.

"Why? Why the sudden change?" Sam asked, puzzled.

"I met someone."

"Is it a woman?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure it isn't an apparition of Mom?"

"You're an ass."

"I'm just making sure that this isn't just another one of your schemes or something," Sam said.

"If it was a scheme, I'm pretty sure you would know that by now." An awkward pause filled the room.

"So would you like to go meet them?"

-xXx

"That's impossible, you can't be serious," Jason spat.

"I can explain really, I can," Rhiannon said.

"It might connect Justin to his own crime scene," Lauren mused.

"Just tell us the story," Jason demanded.

"Okay. So long ago when Slade was planning to take down the Titans; his brilliant scheme was to take Raven so they would run around like chickens with their heads chopped off. Somehow my parents got in an anatomy lesson and I became me. Robin didn't like the idea of a child being under the wing of a super villain and took me and domesticated me with the Harris family. Seventeen years later I had an encounter with Slade and he wanted me to go in and infiltrate the Titan's as revenge. I found out the truth and got really mad at Robin and then everything went black and I woke up again sixty or so odd years later…here. That's the shortened version though."

"That's why Raven disappeared; the rumors weren't rumors at all! That's brilliant!" Lauren believed the tale, but Jason was far from caving in.

"There's got to be a different explanation. Besides, Slade and Deathstroke can't be the same person. Slade has to be dead. And the whole settling down with a baby idea seems way out of character."

"Look at me Jason. You can pick out Raven's features. My pale skin, the purple tint in my eyes…ha takes away all that and you can probably get what Slade looks…looked…like." It was Rhiannon's turn to try and convince Jason, and just like her, he looked like he wasn't having it.

"I believe you Rhiannon. It seems I have no choice. You show up looking like you did sixty years and I have to assume the rest of your stories are real too. Jason, that's your name, right?" Lauren said.

"Yes."

"Take the girl for me and Justin."

"Fine. But someone is paying for gas."

-xXx

Rachel woke in a cold sweat, it was Thursday, and that's what Wednesday night's dream was all about. She threw the covers off, and walked to the bathroom; a replay of the dream in her mind. She turned on the faucet and let the cool water fall around her finger. Hunched over the sink, supporting herself heavily on her left arm, she considered the circumstances. Was she _dating _Dale and cheating on Peter? If that was the case then Peter didn't deserve a girl who still dated with a betrothed. The feelings for Dale were about as deep as a puddle, but the fantasy spread as vast as the Milky Way. She enjoyed the mystery and the diamond facetted personality no normal man could fulfill. She cupped the cool water and lowered her head and splashed it on her face. The droplets ran smoothly down her face and hit the bottom of the sink. She grabbed a towel and padded her face dry, and started to head to her office. She turned on her laptop and brought up a blank Microsoft word document. The cursor blinked waiting to move, leaving a trail of well crafted sentences. However, starting was the hardest part. Rachel sat for a minute and then decided to go and get a cup of coffee and then came back and started a paragraph. She then anxiously got up and picked out an outfit for that night. Minutes passed that felt like hours, and when the hours did finally pass, she only left minutes for her self to get ready.

"Hello? Cathy?" she said into the phone while struggling to get on her stockings.

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing really, besides I'm going to be late and I need you to cover for me. I told Peter I am going to your house. So if he calls, tell him I'm in the bathroom and then text me to call him immediately!"

"No problem. This can't go on forever, Rachel." Rachel slipped on to the floor and broke into a frustrated laugh.

"Ha, you're telling me. I thought you were so gung-ho about it?" Rachel questioned.

"I was, until I realized that this could destroy Peter," Cathy answered.

"I'm noting dating him."

"Aren't you?"

"Good bye Cathy." Rachel hung up the phone. She hurried to the bathroom and put on her makeup as neat as possible; once she was almost satisfied, she convinced herself she was, and then ran to slip into her long floral dress; an anniversary gift from Peter. She shoved heals on to her feet and stumbled around the apartment for her purse. Over the loud clacking she heard the doorbell.

-xXx

The restaurant was booked, and the limo waited downstairs. Slade stood in front of the door, and rang the doorbell. For being nervous, he spoke calmly and his hands were steady. But when she opened the door, it didn't matter the eloquence of his sentences; she was breathtaking. She rushed out of her apartment, nearly knocking into him. He could smell her perfume and hair product she used. It was sweet, but not overbearing; perhaps a hint to her own personality. She smiled and said hello, and he did the same. Hushed, he told her there was a limo waiting for them.

"Really?" Rachel was surprised. She wasn't expected to be wined and dined on their second meeting. "Thank god I didn't wear sweats." Slade smiled. "But this is really too much, Dale."

"A woman should be treated as royalty, no?" The driver was standing with the door open, the handle still his hand, waiting patiently for their arrival. Rachel stood in awe as Slade walked to the stretched and motioned his hand toward the door, signaling for her to step in. She smiled so big it hurt her cheeks the second after she started. He took her hand and helped her as she got in. Slade closed the door behind him and offered her a drink.

"Yes please. So where are we going?" Rachel asked.

"Le Corbeau," Slade said.

"The finest restaurant in the city?!"

"Still too much?"

"I'm flattered though. You definitely know how to impress; or at least have the means to."

"Ha, yes, that I do."

"So do you like taking young women out and whisking them away with flashy things and bags of money?"

"Only the beautiful ones my--." Slade paused. _My dear._ It felt like the wind was sucked from his lungs and his chest was beat in. He was ashamed with equating someone else with his terms of endearment that were once only used for her. Rachel looked at him quizzically, noticing the sudden depletion of color and emotion in his face.

Rachel brought him back, "Anyways."

"We should be there soon." He swigged the last gulp that was in his glass, and fell back against the leather seat. She sipped the wine, her back straight, legs delicately to the side, still determined to impress. The atmosphere was electric, and not just between the two, the whole package was of a caliber she had never felt. Yes, Peter was wealthy, but he used money sparingly and wasn't a gloat about it. Slade had the air, the walk, and the talk; all with a healthy portion of romance, not lust.

The limo stopped and the driver got out and opened the door for the two. Slade got out first and once again lent a hand to help her out of the limo. A small red carpet led to the door, and Rachel walked down it as if she was going to receive an award. Slade leaned in toward the desk and whispered "Wilson for two." She nodded and grabbed two menus and navigated them to their table. Rachel knowingly rubbed elbows with some of the country's finest and most popular. Once seated, she opened the menu and mouthed to it, "oh my God", and put it flat on the table.

"Do you know who is here?" she whispered excitedly, "people with such celebrity proportions. This is incredible, I can't believe this!"

"I'm glad. So please, tell me more about yourself."

"I'm a writer, as you know, so I spend a lot of my time sitting around watching movies, reading books, waiting to get inspired. On the occasion I do get inspired, it's the best feeling in the world."

"My profession is much like that." Slade said.

"That's a bit morbid."

"Hm. Well, do you not kill in your stories?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then tell me, do you not feel a rush of adrenaline when you end his life? Is it not a mixture of sadness for the other characters but a strange glee because you do not have to deal with him any longer?"

"Yes, but I don't actually kill."

"No. But you do; think about it. In a sense you do, just not in reality." Rachel was not going to let him lead her to believe she was a terrible person, sacrificing a bundle of emotional words that was created to pass. Just as _real_ humans are; created to pass.

"I beg to differ," Rachel retorted, "I am just telling a story."

Slade smiled. "Well enough talk of that. I shouldn't talk of my work anyways."

"No, it's okay. I'm inspired. I just need to find my beginning." She tilted her head down and looked up at him with a smile and then looked down at the menu.

"Good evening folks," said their waiter. "I will be taking care of you tonight. Would you like to start off with a few drinks?"

Rachel burst with fervent giggles on the unsuspecting street. Slade tried to hush her, but she wasn't in the mood to listen. He took her arm and guided her to the steps of his apartment and pulled out the keys.

"I really don't know what is so funny," Slade seriously said.

"Obviously something," Rachel laughed back.

"Come inside and settle down a bit before you need to go home."

"I could spend the night. I think we're old enough to have co-ed sleepovers."

"That's unacceptable for the second date."

"Oh. Besides, I didn't bring my pajamas. Ha ha ha," Rachel kept on giggling up the stairs. Her laughs echoed in the stairwell, and then she realized how obnoxious she had become. She took in a deep breath, held it, and then released it with a calm demeanor. "Wow. Anyways…."

"Here we are," Slade said, opening the door. Rachel stepped inside and marveled at how…plain…the apartment was. It was spacious, but no more spacious then her own. The only glamour about it was the expensive furniture and taste. It was dismally an average apartment for a high stakes vigilante. "I'll take your jacket and you can have a seat. Anything to drink?"

"A water would be nice thanks."

Slade grabbed two waters and brought them to the couch. Rachel sat with her right leg neatly hung over her left. He handed her the water and she delicately took it and sipped it.

"Thank you for everything. Tonight has been incredible. For a super villain, you are good company," Rachel teased.

"I'll take it as a compliment." A smile.

"Why hello, how was your time?" Jones walked in to the room in a T-shirt and flannel bottoms. Rachel, in a panic, unrealistically thinking it could be Peter, stood quickly. However, despite her quick escape upwards, she momentarily went weak in the knee and fell awkwardly, on to Slade, back on to the couch.

"Crap, I'm sorry," Rachel gasped.

"It's quite alright." He looked into her eyes, and she looked into his one. Rachel let out a quick outward sigh as if the wind was knocked out of her. All the poise, romance, and class he had was right in his cool pool of blue-eyed color. Rachel had a rush of a sinking feeling, as if a rock replaced her heart. Her skin, a moment ago smooth, was now littered with goose bumps. Slade took hold of her slender face and….

A/N: For some reason, I had much trouble with this chapter, so please, feel free to critique! Thanks, xThe-UnkwnX


	11. Henry Wants Revenge

brought his closer and then waited for her to react to his notion

Slade brought his face closer and then waited for her to react to his notion. She paused, still drinking in his sex appeal. Slowly, completely conscious, she pushed her head forward and the two met firmly at the lips. They lingered a bit and the small puck sounded when they separated; but it was closely followed by another spit swapping smack. Before their tongues could explore the newly discovered territory Jones coughed to remind them of his presence. Slade pulled back, but Rachel kept her head there for a moment, relishing a true connection of the souls with a kiss. She let out another sigh, and opened her eyes.

"I think it is time for you to go," Slade quickly said. He lightly pushed Rachel off him and retrieved her coat and purse.

"Are you coming?" she asked.

"No."

"Will I see you again?" Rachel looked at him, longing.

"Keep looking under your door. Good night Rachel." Slade opened the door.

"Good night Dale." She gave him a peck on the cheek and walked out of the apartment, the door closing behind her.

"I kissed him" was what she mouthed, "I kissed him". She took out her phone and noticed there were no missed calls or urgent text messages. She then looked at the time.

1:30 AM.

-xXx

"Dale? Dale?! Ha, _Slade_. A quick switch of your name and you have a new identity. Should I call you Dale Swoiln?" Jones mocked Slade. "And I don't understand why you hurried her out the door. From the looks of it, if I didn't "ehem" you guys out of it you would have made sweet music right in front of me…. It felt good didn't it? Maybe a little _too _good?"

"It was amazing."

"Then why'd you stop?"

"Because any longer and I wouldn't have. And the last time I check the etiquette book, going all the way on the second date doesn't always produce the best of relationships." Slade walked to the couch and sat down.

"No, you're right. But I got you feeling human again." Jones smirked. "Anyways, I got a lead on Henry."

"How?"

"I called the station and he went to Jump City and hasn't returned to work yet. I don't understand what is there, but I think we should go."

"We don't need to," Slade said.

"Why?" Jones asked.

"Because I know what he's finding, and it's going to lead him straight back here."

"What exactly is he finding?"

Slade paused. "That Slade and Deathstroke really is the same person and once he figures that, he's going to come after us."

"Wilson, we can't die."

"Yes, yes we can…."

-xXx

Henry stumbled in to a small motel room. He dumped his papers on the table and threw his jacket on to the bed. After a lonely meal of steak and mashed love life, sleeping sounded like the best antidote. He took of his shirt and pants and crawled in to the bed and turned the lights off. He slipped quietly into a dream that felt more like a live memory reel.

_"Ha, well at least I don't flop my noodle around with any authority here." Henry looked over to Slade with a knowing, mocking grin. He caught the glare and nearly jumped off his bunk and strangled his throat. He couldn't show the comment bothered him or the whole cabin would suspect something of him. So Slade waited until the next morning to privately _discuss_ the matter._

_"How the fuck do you know you piece of crap?!" Slade demanded throwing him into the back wall of their cabin. Henry stumbled but didn't say a word even though his back, head, and neck began hurting. "Once isn't enough? Okay. Very well then." Slade shoved Henry back into the wall and then slammed his fist into Henry's cheek bone. He dropped to the ground and whined as he clutched his face. "So how do you know?"_

_"I…I…."_

_"You…you what? How did you find out?" Slade grabbed Henry's shirt and pulled him up to a sitting position._

_"I saw you leave…and I...I followed…."_

_"Did you watch at all you sick fuck?"_

_"N-no."_

_"You sure about that?"_

_"Y-y-yes! Yes!" Slade looked at Henry, cowering in broad day light. There was no mistaking that he was in pain from his now swelling cheek and shaking body._

_"Don't ever reference it again and I won't have to have this discussion again, got it?" Henry didn't make a motion to say anything and Slade didn't pester him for an answer. Ever since then, Henry became a coward in Slade's presence, and retreated himself from the group for fear he'd slip the secret. He became lonely and miserable at Slade's expense. And when he was offered a serum that offered super human abilities, he took it without a question._

He woke in a cold sweat and threw his covers off. He was embarrassed; embarrassed from letting a self righteous ass beat him to the ground, and that he had to backbone to get him up. He could have destroyed Slade by telling somebody, anybody, and he chose not to. Now, seventy five years later, he wanted revenge.

-xXx

Rachel walked into her apartment suspecting to see an angry Peter, but she saw a sleepy one instead. She breathed out a deep sigh of relief and shuffled her way to the bedroom so she could change into her pajamas and act like everything was okay.

"Peter?" She shook him awake. He woke in a daze, and smiled at seeing her face.

"Hi hun, how was Cathy's?"

"It was fun." Rachel smiled and then sat down on the couch next to him.

"I'm glad. What time is it anyways?"

"About two."

"Oh, damn. I was going to call you, but then I figured you weren't going to answer. I guess then I fell asleep." He smiled sweetly, and it hurt Rachel. He trusted her, yet she was out dating a super villain. The worst of it was that she wanted to tell him as if it was nothing and he was only a good friend.

"Well I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." She left without giving him a peck or even a small hug. She felt dirty, but secretly she wanted to keep Dale's taste lingering on her lips.

-xXx

"Dad, I want to go to the mall," Alycia demanded.

"You just went yesterday," Sam said.

"Yeah, but Jen and Kim are going today."

"No."

"Dad!"

"Alycia…no. Besides, we have company."

Alycia looked Slade up and down quickly and then pulled out her phone and started texting her friends the news. Then she looked at him again, still with distaste, and leaked a weak hello.

"Hi," said Slade.

"Who are you?"

"A friend of the family."

"Oh. Never seen you before."

"Me either, but now I have." Slade smiled. Alycia had many traits from her mother's side, but she inherited her father's blue eyes, just as he inherited them from his father.

"You know, you and my dad kind of look a like," Alycia mused.

"We used to get that a lot growing up," Sam quickly chimed in. Jess smiled in the background.

"Alycia can you get the ice cream out and go run upstairs and get the boys?" Jess asked her daughter.

"Sure Mom." She rolled her eyes before doing what she asked.

"Nice kid," Slade complimented.

"Thanks. Should I stamp them with your approval?" Sam asked rhetorically.

"Yes, I think you should. Why don't you get a "made in the back seat of a car" stamp on them too just for kicks."

"Ha…ha…ha."

Alycia brought her two younger brothers down and once again Slade prided to see the mixture between his bloodline and Richard's. They looked at Slade like the stranger that he was to them, and proceeded into the dinning room just as their parents asked of them. Once all at the table, it was Slade's first family sit down in _years_.

"So how do you know Dad?" Dylan, the fourteen year old, asked.

"We grew up together," Slade said.

"So how was my Dad when he was younger?" Sam looked at his father, eager for his answer.

"He was a good kid, and unfortunately his father was an ass sometimes."

"A donkey?" Stephen, the ten year old, asked innocently.

"Yes, a donkey."

"Well this has been fun and everything and I'm glad you came to visit Mr.… Mr. you." Alycia abruptly got up from the table and Sam motioned to stop her, but he gave up halfway through. Jess looked unhappy, but didn't want to start a fight.

"Can I go too?" Dylan asked.

"Sure, just put you bowls in the sink," Jess said. "I'm sorry they're not behaving better, but Alycia has been a real pain to handle."

"It's okay. She's just being a teen."

"So how have you been?"

"Depressed mostly, and then I met an old friend and he's helping me to my feet."

"That's good. Well, that's good that someone is helping you. I'm glad. Maybe you should come over when my parents do?"

"Are you crazy?" Sam asked, horrified she would even make the suggestion. "I don't think your parents really want to see my dad."

"That's true. Especially since I'm still young and they're all wrinkles, yah? They might get jealous." Jess chuckled, but Sam wasn't amused.

"I just think that my mom should know. Your father is my mother's best friend's husband," Jess explained.

"I guess."

"Thanks for the desert, but I think I should be heading home." Slade stood from the table and grabbed his bowl to put it in the sink. Sam and Jess followed him in to say their good byes.

"Next time bring your girlfriend, okay?" Sam offered.

"Just because I took her on a date doesn't mean we're going out," Slade angrily spat.

"Okay, but just bring her. I know I'd love to meet her."

Slade nodded his head in agreement and walked himself to the door. Maybe Sam's idea would be his own next date's plan.

-xXx

**Roughly Seventy-Five Years Ago**

"He's simply broken. His body temperature is through the roof, he's hallucinating. Addie…he's a mess. I hate to dismiss such a good solider from this army, but I'm afraid I must. I've looked through his records and there is barely information on him so I am instructing that you find him a safe place to be."

"You can't keep him here until he recovers?"

"Get him to a real doctor."

"But these doctors know what actually is wrong with him."

"Slade's body can not handle this, and our doctors simply can not handle this. They aren't experienced enough; they've clearly stated it to me. He's on ice so his brain doesn't boil."

"Why me General?" Addie asked.

"He wouldn't stop calling your name in all of his hallucinations. And on reasonable suspicion of a relationship between the two of you, I am forced to ask you to leave as well." His response was dry. The General handed her Slade's file and sent her off with a weak smile.

"Sir, I don't understand…."

"The manor of which he was speaking about you was inappropriate. He would never have those thoughts if –."

"They're hallucinations! How can you believe hallucinations?"

"I'm sorry. The decision is final. Take him home, and do your best to bring him back. Now please follow me so you can take him immediately."

Addie was furious, furious in finding love where love shouldn't be found. She was furious she lost her job, her career, and didn't know where to turn. And to top it off, she had the responsibility of the person who lost her everything. However, when she walked into the room all the complaining stopped. He was in serious pain. He was tied by the hands and ankles to a large metal box filled with ice, while wrapped in a few blankets for protection. Slade wiggled and writhed trying to get free, and to ease the pain; he screamed every so often just to keep his find focused elsewhere.

"Once you leave, get him help," the General ordered.

"What do you care? He's just a test subject." Addie's eyes filled with tears, and prepared her self for the worst.


	12. She's Not Raven

Addie paced up and down her small apartment hallway. Another moment of boisterous outbursts of pain and she was going to throw him out the door. She put on some hot water and then bobbed a Green Tea bag in it. She quickly ran it to his bed side and demanded him to drink it. Sweating, Slade lifted his head from the bag of ice and grabbed the tea. His shaking hands spilled some of the sweltering tea on his hands, but was numb to the feeling. He sipped it without feeling for a temperature and calmed a bit.

"Are you feeling better?" Addie asked slowly and in a raised voice.

"I'm…o-okay." He sipped the tea again. She tenderly kissed his forehead and sat up from his bed. "I still w-want to…to marry y-you…Addie."

"I wish it was that simple Slade. For now, just concentrate on getting healthy."

"I-I…I love you."

Addie tightly shut her eyes to hold back the tears that could have easily poured down her face.

"I know you do, I know you do." She shut the door quietly and headed to the couch with a tub of ice cream and late night dramatics on the television. Out of her pocket she pulled the ring box that the army had given to her in his bag of belongings. She opened it gingerly and slid it on to her right ring finger. She admired how it looked, and for moment how it felt.

"No, you've made your choice," she whispered to her self. She slid it off her finger and put it back into the box.

"You can always change it…." Slade weakly made it to the couch and collapsed. Addie gasped and forcefully pushed him into a comfortable position on the couch.

"I can't make any promises Slade. And if I decided to marry you, I can't marry you dead, so rest up and stay in bed." Addie sighed. Slade groaned, signaling his agreement and curled into a semi fetal position and started to drift to sleep. Addie laid a blanket on him and shut off the light. She brought the tub of ice cream with her to bed, and put the ring box on her dresser. Tonight, the dreams of marriage wouldn't be to far from reach.

-xXx

"You know we could have just taken a plane," Rhiannon pointed out tapping her pointer finger impatiently on the car door.

"That would have been the easy way. But since nothing seems to be logical with you we're driving ridiculously far," Jason retorted.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're making crazy assumptions about a dead serial killer and a living serial killer. And you being his…offspring."

"Get over it Jason. I'm telling the truth."

"We'll see."

"Yes." Rhiannon began tapping her finger on the car door again.

"Would you stop it?" Jason asked annoyed. Rhiannon looked over at him in shock at reaction. "I need to pull over for gas."

Jason exited off the highway and pulled into the gas station. It was a shabby little place, with a convenience store that seemed more of an inconvenience. Rhiannon quickly jumped out of the car.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To the bathroom." She shut the car door and walked with her arms folded into the building. Jason put his credit card into the slot and put the nozzle in the opening of the tank. He waited for it to fill then closed it, turning the knob a few times to make sure it was closed, and then closed the small door. The receipt printed, and he grabbed it and put it in his wallet. He looked through the convenience store window and saw Rhiannon wandering around the place.

"Rhiannon." Jason walked up to her, and gently tapped her shoulder. "We have to get going on the road if we're going to make it there anytime in this century.

"Relax. We have a few years before that ends."

"Rhiannon I'm being serious. I want this to be solved so I can just go back home."

"Fine. But I'm hungry, and I have no money, so can you please buy me this sandwich." Rhiannon said grabbing the plastic box filled with a chicken Cesar wrap with attitude. She placed it on the counter and Jason put a five dollar bill down.

"Newlyweds?" the balding cashier with a potbelly asked.

"No!" Jason and Rhiannon disagreed at the same time.

"We're not even married," Jason added.

"Engaged?" the cashier asked.

"No!" Rhiannon quickly responded.

"Oh, well you fight like you should be."

"Thanks," Rhiannon said with a faint grin.

Once paid for, the two got back to the car, and started back on their path.

"I'm sorry," Rhiannon apologized.

"For what?" Jason asked.

"Putting you through this."

"I'm doing it am I not? You have nothing to be sorry about. I brought this upon myself."

"I guess. I'm still sorry." Rhinannon huddled herself against the door of the car. She was uncomfortable and she just wanted to go home. Her parents were dead, her birthmother was dead, her boyfriend was dead…the only person she had left was Slade. And for the first time in her life, she wanted to be in his embrace as his daughter. Rhiannon curled her lips inside her mouth and shut her eyes, but it didn't stop the tears.

"Are you crying?" Jason asked, taking his eyes off the road to look at her.

"No," Rhiannon sobbed.

"I'm going to pull off for the night. We've been driving long enough."

About an hour later the car pulled into a nice hotel, and Jason put it in park. Grab only what you need and come in, okay? Just go to bed." Rhiannon nodded in acknowledgement. The two went to the front desk and got a room. But there was a problem.

"There's only one bed?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry sir. There are a lot of big events going on this weekend. A wedding and such to be exact," the desk clerk explained.

"Is there at least a couch?"

"A small one, sir. I'm afraid its not the most comfortable thing, but it's a couch. It may even be a pull out."

"Fine. I'll still take it." The two got to the room and he opened the door. Rhiannon couldn't run in the room and get on the bed fast enough. She broke into deep sobs, and let out all her frustration, and realization of heavy loss.

"I'm sorry," she cried, "I just want to go home."

"I know." After a good fifteen minutes of hard sobbing, she started to sniffle and whimper. She soon drifted to a deep sleep. Jason tried to get comfortable on the couch, but he was too tall for the small piece of furniture. He quietly got of the couch, and trying not to breath to hard to wake her up, he looked to see if she was sleeping. He then took off his jeans and shirt, and tucked her in to bed, and got in with her, making sure there was a nice gap between them.

-xXx

"Kathy. Kathy, I can't take this. I'm having horrid nightmares and I can't even breath in the same space as him. And Dale has asked me on another date. This time with another few couples so. I'm not as nervous but still, things could happen and…Kathy I don't know what to do," Rachel nervously ranted on the phone to her friend. Kathy sat on the other end in silence. Her friend was in a dilemma and had no advice. She had not been in this situation, and heard none of the like before.

"Rachel…I don't know what to tell you. You have a promise to Peter. Who do you love Rachel?"

Silence from the other end.

"Rachel? Rachel…who do you love…."

"I…I don't know…."

-xXx

Slade showed up with Rachel on his left arm to a quaint restaurant near Sam and Jess's place. The lighting was fairly dim, and the table cloths were crisp looking and the silverware shined. The table was a six person table; Richard and Kori sat across from each other, as did Sam and Jess. Richard, Sam, and Slade sat on one side, and Kori, Jess, and Rachel on the other.

"You're young," Richard looked at Rachel directly. She blushed.

"Dad!" Jess embarrassedly snipped.

"I'm only making an observation. She's young and beautiful."

"Thank you," Rachel said with a smile.

"You're just jealous Richard." Slade rudely commented.

"Dale, hush," Rachel commanded.

"Dale?" Richard, Kori, Sam, and Jess questioned at the same time.

"Yes, Dale. And I couldn't resist. Ric-- Mr. Grayson and I have always had this…petty relationship."

"Oh…still."

"So, Dale…how have things been?" Kori asked.

"Since Raven died, things were at a low, but now things are much better." After his statement, his eyes darted quickly to meet Rachel's. And after a few seconds of connect, she disconnected and smiled contently.

"That's good to hear," Kori said with a smile.

"How did you get over her so fast?" Richard asked.

"DAD!" Jess nearly yelled.

"Richard that is none of our business," Kori hissed. For once, Slade kept silence, and kept his composure. He knew Rachel was watching, and he didn't want to loose thing one thing that kept him going from day to day. Jess turned to Rachel in a hurry to excuse her father's behavior.

"I'm really sorry. He and … Dale… never really got along," she quickly apologized.

"It's fine, really."

"No, it isn't. Excuse whatever comes out of his mouth. He's aging poorly."

"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm deaf yet," Richard scowled.

"Dad, it's true. Now can we please have a good meal? Sam and I have enough bickering with the kids."

The waiter came and the six ordered, and waited for the bravest one to speak up and restart the conversation.

"Wait a minute," Slade asked, "How did You and Rich get here Kori if you lived in Jump City?"

"We took a plane. We're here for a few weeks to see the grandchildren and the city. This is a very nice area," Kori said, looking pleased. Her hair was less vibrantly red and cut into a shorter more manageable length. Her skin was showing signs of aging, but not much. Her eyes showed tiredness. Richard, however, looked much older. His skin was wrinkled from where muscle once was, and especially under his eyes were particularly drooped.

"I'm from Jump City myself," Rachel piped in.

"Really?" Kori asked.

"Yeah. I moved here because of -- my job."

"She's a writer," Slade said, entering the conversation.

"Yeah. Dale has inspired me to write more. It's really nice." She smiled and blushed a bit. Sam stared at her in a slight disgust. She was about twenty years younger than he, and she was showing feelings for her father who was supposed to be around his age. Not only that, another woman besides his mother was somewhat romantically involved with Slade.

"How sweet," Rich sighed sarcastically.

"Yes…how nice," Kori said giving Rich another warning look.

"So how did you two meet?" Sam asked. Rachel and Slade looked at each other to see who was going to share first.

"I saw her in the park late at night," Slade said, "and she caught my eye. She looked stunningly familiar when the light hit her face just right."

"And he," Rachel began, "was quite handsome himself. His voice is what really got to me. A sexy allure. He slipped a note under my door a while later, and now here we are." Rachel was cheerful about the description; forgetting Peter completely.

"Adorable." Jess smiled. Sam elbowed Slade in the side like they were old friends.

"I didn't know you were a cheesy romantic." Slade just smiled and let out a little laugh, and continued to look at Rachel who seemed to be beaming with happiness.

After dinner was over, Sam and Richard pulled Slade aside to chat a bit before it was time to go for the night.

"Dad, she's a really nice girl, but that's the problem," Sam explained.

"She's just a girl. And not Raven," Richard said.

"Sam didn't you tell me your mother would want me to move on? This is my chance. I'm truly pleased with her, and I haven't felt so happy since your mother. I don't know. Rachel reminds me so much of her. It's like Raven has given me Rachel in substitute."

"You don't sound cynical," Sam said.

"Which is a surprise. It's odd Slade. I don't think you've been this content ever," Richard said.

"No, you have never seen me content Richard. No one will replace Raven. She's still here, in my memory. Now please, let me end this night right." Slade said, excusing him from the conversation. He walked up to Rachel and the two women and asked if it was okay if he could steal her away for the rest of the night. They giggled in agreement and watched the two walk off arm in arm.

"Dale, this night was wonderful. Your friend's wife is awesome. Even her mother-in-law is awesome!"

"Really?" Slade was surprised. Even after all that drilling she still managed to have a good time.

"Yes. Really." She pecked him on the cheek.

"Rachel?" Slade asked in earnest.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to come back to my place?"

"Of course I would."

Once back at the apartment, they skipped the rather cheap wine and went straight to the bedroom, with taste of course. At first they lied together, in each other's arms, Slade caressing her face, and gently playing with her hair. He kissed the top of her head, then lifted her chin and kissed the bridge of her nose, and then cautiously left his lips close to hers in waiting. Rachel responded with a gentle, tender kiss. Their tongues wandered in their mouths, but soon it wasn't enough fun. Rachel started to kiss Slade's neck and shoulder. She started to unbutton his shirt, and then put her lips on his bare shoulder, kissing down his chest as she unbuttoned. He took the shirt off, and Rachel did the same. Slade unbuttoned her dress pants and she pulled them, with her lace undies, down to her ankles and then threw the pants to the floor. With her smooth legs, still crossed, she whispered in his ear, "Don't love me quietly." "Shall I do it with intensity?" he asked. "I knew you're perfect," she said. She laid back down, and Slade kissed her legs from her knees to her inner thigh….


	13. Beauty Leaves a Mark

"_Hello?"_

"_Henry?"_

"_Yes, this is him."_

"_A scientist of ours and Rhiannon Harris's body is missing."_

"_You think the two are connected?"_

"_With all do respect sir, I think the answer is obvious."_

"_Is the scene contained?"_

"_Of course."_

"_I'll be there on the next possible flight."_

_Henry closed his cell phone and firmly rubbed his heads over his head and through his hair. For the first time in this case, there were more questions than answers. There was no logical, or sane, reason why Slade and/or Deathstroke would want the decaying body of his daughter and a scientist._

"_Perhaps he thinks he could bring her back…," Henry mused aloud. After the thought he quickly jumped on the computer and secured a flight to Plainsville._

_-xXx_

"_You girls stay out late," Peter smiled as he watched her walk in the apartment from the couch._

"_Why are you always waiting up for me?" Rachel asked with a seriously sarcastic tone, "Don't you have friends of your own?" _

"_I do. I'm going to the bar with them after work tomorrow night. That will be the night you will be waiting for me on the couch," Peter explained. Rachel sat on the other end of the couch, so close to the edge her rear was barely comfortable. Peter looked her up and down. "You okay?"_

"_Yeah. I'm fine. I need to go to bed." She got up and walked in to their bedroom and closed the door. Peter watched the door with a wary eye, and waited a good half hour before he went in and disturbed her peculiar mood._

_-xXx_

_Since her renaissance, last night was the most regenerating sleep she has had. She snuggled her head into what she imagined to be her pillow, but it was too hard and rigid to be considered a pillow. She sleepily opened her eyes and saw the top of the ruffled covered and the beginning of a white T-shirt. She was laying horizontal to his vertical, and screamed in horror when she realized her position._

"_Ah!" she shrieked and through the covers off and jumped out of the bed. Jason woke up in a whirl of panic. And looked frantically back and forth for anything threatening. Instead, she found the horrified face of Rhiannon._

"_What?" he asked._

"_Did you…?"_

"_Did I what?"_

"_Touch me?" she asked in a small, horse, voice._

"_What? Are you serious? No! I couldn't sleep on the couch so I just went to bed…in a bed. You were on one side, and I on the other."_

"_Well that's not how I woke up!" Rhiannon yelled._

"_I guess you toss in your sleep. Don't even try to pin this on me," Jason threatened, pulling off the covers and standing up._

"_Well one minute I was--." Rhiannon paused at the sight of Jason in a white t-shirt and boxers. His broad shoulders and semi-athletic build were quite attractive in his near naked attire._

"_What? What were you doing one minute?" Jason asked, trying to get information out of her._

"_Nothing. I was doing nothing." She turned away from him and walked into the bathroom and closed the door._

"_No wonder why I didn't date in high school," Jason commented collapsing back into the bed._

_-xXx_

_Rachel rolled out of bed and left Peter to sleep. She walked into the kitchen and put on some coffee and went to fetch her laptop. After opening it on the kitchen table she sleepily and not so thoughtfully she proceeded to take the half-and-half out of the fridge and open the sugar bowl, awaiting a warm cup of satisfaction. She opened a previously saved Microsoft Word document and put the cursor at the end of the last sentence and let it blink at her in a mocking tone. _

"_She wanted to tell him that she was sleeping with another man, and it pained her that she didn't. Even though they were lovers, they were the best of friends, and she abhorred keeping secrets from him," Rachel said aloud while typing them. "Ugh, this is so odd." She poured herself a cup of coffee and put the milk and sugar in and stirred. In the past few weeks she had denied Peter any type of physical connection. Not even a peck on the cheek before he went to work, or when he came home. She barely looked at him, especially when she sensed his sense of concern was growing. The wedding was in a few months, and she needed to either start acting like his future wife, or run away to be "Dale"._

_Peter came up from behind her and rubbed his right cheek on her left and whispered a meaningful "good morning" in to her ear. Rachel smiled and muttered a soft good morning back. _

"_Even though it's one in the afternoon," Peter laughed._

"_Are you still going out with guys?" Rachel asked._

"_Yeah. I'm going to go shower and get ready. Rachel?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Not to be rude or anything, but when are we going to…get close…again?"_

"_Peter, we are close. And when I'm in the mood." Rachel scoffed._

"_Not lately, Rae. You seem…occupied."_

"_It's the book, it's taking a toll." Rachel lied. The book was her only scapegoat from exposing herself completely. Even fully dressed, she felt uncomfortably naked around him. _

"_Okay. If you need to talk to me you know where you can find me."_

_Rachel grabbed her cell phone and dialed Cathy's number in and put the phone to her ear._

"_So? How'd it go?" Cathy answered, somber but anxious._

"_It was great. His friends and his friend's family are a lot of fun."_

"_Why are you whispering?"_

"_I don't want Peter to hear," Rachel said._

"_You do know Peter is eventually going to find out. Whether you tell him or not."_

"_Don't say that." Tears were filling Rachel's eyes as she tried to hide from the truth._

"_I'm not trying to say it to make you upset. One day the games will end."_

"_I know." Her voice was hoarse. "Bye." She closed her phone, hanging up. She grabbed a piece of paper from a drawer in the kitchen and grabbed a pen. "Dear Peter, I'm going for a walk to get some inspiration. Love you." After she wrote the note her hand was shaking and tears were streaming out of her eyes. Loving Peter now felt more painful than pleasurable, and her only comfort, ironically, was Slade._

_She grabbed her jacket and left the apartment and walked out to the direction of the park hoping that by some miracle, Slade would come and save her from the sudden hollowness that occupied her heart._

_-xXx_

_Rhiannon wrapped herself around the toilet, her head anchored ready project her nauseous feeling in her stomach. Jason reminded her so much of Justin, and the thought of him gone was nearly unbearable. He was dead possibly by her own father, who was an infamous vigilante. Her mother could possibly be dead and gone as well. And her true parents, the couple that raised her from birth were withering away in an unknown place waiting to die. She could no longer call Plainsville home, because it had rejected her simply by aging. Nothing was familiar, and suddenly she felt alone. In a world of six billion people, she couldn't turn to __anyone _familiar. Except Slade.

She coughed weakly and began to sob, clutching the bowl so hard it turned the tips of her fingers under her nails white. A soft knock happened on the door, and Rhiannon mumbled undecipherable words and continued to cry. Jason opened the door and saw her wrapped so tightly against the toilet she could have easily been described as a cist to the toilet. A lump of crying mess attached to an inanimate object. He crouched down and wiped the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her hair. The strands that were left because they were stuck to her face from her tears, he pushed back as well.

He whispered "What's wrong?" with a look of sincere worry.

Rhiannon bit her lip and managed to get out, "Everything." Jason started to spread his arms to signal her to wrap hers around him. She looked cautiously at his arms, and then to his eyes. After noting he was serious, she let go from he toilet and leapt in to his arms so fast, she pushed him off balance and in to the wall. She started to cry so hard, it felt like the skin the passed over the bottom of her ribcage was sore from breathing so fast. Jason held her tight and rubbed her back and occasionally would put his hands through her hair.

"Jason…I'm so…sorry," she breathed unsteadily struggling to even her breath to speak, "I'm too weak. I…shouldn't have…dragged you in…to this. It's so…stupid."

"It's not stupid it's just--."

"Just what?" She pulled away from his chest to look at his face, and in his eyes. "Ridiculous? How can Slade still be alive?" She bit her tongue and inhaled quickly. "My life was perfect until Slade and the Teen Titans. They took me away from my true parents, even though Slade and Raven birthed me. I was taken from Justin, who I was convinced I was going to marry one day, but he's dead. Jason my whole life is a lie and I didn't even know it until then." She then stood up and clenched her fists in frustration. Her eyes became glazed over and then purely became white. Sourced from her palms, a purplish black flame engulfed her tightened fists. Her heart pumped faster, and the blood coursed so fast through her veins it felt like she could feel it slosh in her veins. She was so angry, she was euphoric, relishing in the seemed power. She looked at Jason for any look of comfort and she met an agonized fear in his glance. She watched his eyes drop from hers to her hands and she looked down. Surprised, that she had forgotten, and horrified she couldn't remember to stop it, her expression changed from angry to frightened. Her throat closed so only a small stream of air could pass.

"Rhiannon! How did you--you really are Raven's daughter aren't you?" Jason gasped. She nodded. "How do you stop?"

"I don't know," she said so quietly it looked like she was mouthing it. He stood up and looked at her further. "You're angry, aren't you?" Rhiannon nodded in response. He held her arms down at her side and looked in to her blank white eyes. "Calm down. Everything is going to be fine." She closed her eyes, and tried to calm her heartbeat, but it pounded on. Jason looked down, and saw that the flames around her hands were still smoldering. In a quick, subconscious motion he took her face into both of his hands and brought his face close and smashed his lips on to hers. At first, the flames grew twice their size, but neither Jason nor Rhiannon noticed. Then they retreated, and disappeared. Rhiannon didn't kiss back, and Jason forced nothing more from her. Rhiannon pinched her lips together, and he got the hint and pulled away. He looked into her eyes, and found they were no longer white.

"I didn't know how else I could calm you," he said calmly with a bit of shame.

"It worked," she said.

With nothing to say, Jason walked out of the bathroom and began to dress himself in pants and a T-shirt. Rhiannon walked and leaned against the door frame.

"We should get on the road," he murmured through tense lips. Rhiannon obeyed, her energy coming from her subconscious. After all her frustration, she felt a cool sensation of calm. She couldn't smile, because she wasn't exactly happy, and she couldn't frown because Jason gave her no reason to. She mechanically dressed and gathered her things and got in to the car. The rest of the ride was going to be staring out the window listening to some tunes on the radio.

-xXx

"There are a million possibilities, Henry," the detective mused, "and they all have the potential to be correct and incorrect."

"Do you think Deathstroke would be involved?" Henry asked.

"If your hunch proves true, maybe he wants to bury her properly after you disrupted her grave. Though, if Deathstroke had anything to do with this, I'm sure we wouldn't be standing here having this chat."

"True. You think the scientist took the body?"

"Why?"

"I don't want to come across as a pervert but…."

"Another bleak possibility. We are getting information on him and seeing if we can spot him using his credit card and such. He's bound to show up some time."

"Of course." Henry paused. "I think I'm going to check out the Deathstroke idea. You know my cell number." Henry rubbed his fingers over his mouth, and furrowed his eyebrows before he left the building. Which possibility was the right one?

-xXx

Rachel lay bundled on the bench, hoping that he would find her, but the hours passed, and the chill started to hold her bones. She fumbled through her pockets and found a five dollar bill. Hopefully the coffee shop was open for a wayward customer.

-xXx

"Seriously? A bar?" Jones asked, baffled.

"What? You don't think I can't drink?" Slade asked. 

"Not in public." Slade raised an eyebrow at him.

"Bar food is good. I'm in need of a good burger."

The two friends walked in and sat down. A woman and a man having a date on Jones's left, and a group of male friends to Slade's right. They ordered their drinks and their meals and waited hungrily for their plates.

"So you two are doing well?" Jones asked.

"Strangely well. She's something else. So accepting of everything, and…," Slade finished his sentence in a whisper, "…plays real nice if you get my hint." Jones smiled.

"I do."

"The way she kisses from my nose, to my neck to--."

"Okay lover boy. I didn't agree to dinner to get sick," Jones complained.

The man next to Slade piped in, defending Slade, "Hey man, if the guy is in love…."

"Ha," Jones rebutted, "in love. You obviously don't know my friend very well then."

"No, but he obviously at least _likes her to be toying with her. What's her name?" the man asked._

"_Rachel," Slade willfully answered._

"_Really? My fiancé is named Rachel."_

"_What a coincidence."_

"_Strange. Yeah. My Rachel is beautiful. Dark hair and eyes. A body to die for," the man continued. Slade started to hesitate. The two girls were starting to have to much in common. His curiosity started to over bound with the fact that the two girls might indeed be the same one._

"_Yeah does "your Rachel" have this beauty mark on the skin on top of her right pelvic bone area. It looks like a little tatoo." Slade watched the man's face fall from happy drunk, to enraged fiancé._

"_How do you know that?"_

"_Because I've seen it." Jones slammed his hand to his forehead in disbelief. The man stood from his stool, and wound up to slam Slade in the jaw. It was a good punch, and Slade let it happen because he felt he deserved it. The perfect Rachel he was thinking and describing moments ago was now a two-timing chick with commitment issues. He felt defeated, and the news bore into his heart like a machine building a tunnel in a mountain. He didn't punch the guy back, because Slade felt he was the scum bag, the runner up to the fiancé. He took his beer glass, half empty of course, and drank it all down, and walked out the door. Jones stood up after the door slammed behind his friend._

"_I'm truly sorry," he said, and ran out after the bar after Slade._


	14. Necrophilia

Unconscious, Peter was laid on the couch by his friends. Rachel, barefoot and in her plush robe peered out from the bedroom. He looked at them, and then at him, and then back to them.

"What happened!" she gasped, running and collapsing on him, falling to the side of the couch. No one answered, each unable to explain they know the secret she tried to keep from him. "What happened?!"

"He's drunk. He'll tell you what happened with a wicked hangover and a heavy heart," a gruff faced man said with a harsh attitude Rachel didn't understand.

"He's not hurt? Should I take him to the hospital?" Rachel further questioned.

"If he needed medical attention, we'd of brought him there ma'am," a thin, respectable looking, man answered.

"Of course." Her eyes became puffy and the skin around her eyes were keeping the tears back momentarily. The friends nodded and each said a quick good bye and left the two in peace. "Oh Peter, wake up…wake up…." Her body was shaking. She had never seen him get so drunk before in her years of knowing him. "Why--"

At that moment, the window crashed open, and a dark figure landed in to the living room, marching over to Rachel and made her stand by grabbing her by the shoulder. Soon after the door was knocked down and Jones came running it.

"Stop it!" he called at Slade, desperate to deter his friend. Slade didn't listen. Rachel was in shock looking at her masked lover.

"What is going on?" she managed to blurt, her lips quivering.

"I don't know Rachel, what _is _going on?" He yelled with loud malice. "who is that on the couch? Hmm? A traveling vagabond?"

Rachel stiffened. What felt like a mountain lion scraped the inside walls of her flesh. The mounting feeling of sinking physically dropped her shoulders and emotionally shattered her like toilet paper.

"He his my fiancé, Peter. I love him. I am wholly in love with him. He completes me and my human needs. But _you, _Dale. You complete me on such a grander scale. I scale I never knew until I met you," Rachel honestly told. What was there to loose when you had nothing?

"You're lying. To me or him. You can not have both Rachel. You whoring yourself to me makes you look bad in his eyes, and leaving me means you have used me for some extra fun because he couldn't satisfy you. Both ways _you _look terrible." A knife to the chest, a scythe to the neck, a blow torch to the body. His words burrowed in to her a place shared by her deepest fears and sorrows. She had both, and loved both. However, one had to outweigh the other, there was no way that so much love for two people could control her heart at once.

"Take of your mask."

"Why?"

"You break in to my apartment disguising the man you are, ashamed by it even, because you felt something for me. I do not _love _Deathstroke; I _love _Dale." The muscles around his eye tensed and his brow dived in anger.

"How can you claim feelings for me when you are betrothed to another man? How plain and simple is that Rachel?" In one swoop he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her in to the nearest wall.

"Slade!" Jones cried, and ran to, to free his grip on the fragile woman. Slade put out an arm, where the center of Jones's chest met with immortal force. "You'll kill her Slade! Slade!"

Her life was between his thumb and index finger; he could feel her heart beat strong underneath her skin. Her body was tense, her eyes glimmered with fear of her life, but behind the apparent fear, there was worry; worry that Slade would turn his rage against innocents, and never be content again. He couldn't understand why at the moment of her impending death she was thinking about him. Jones called his name again in a low, stern voice, breaking Slade's concentration and his grip. She dropped to the ground like a bag of potatoes and he stepped away from her as if she had died. He walked away, and Jones dashed to her side and checked for breathing. She gasped, and with all of the emotions sparking in her brain, she could not express any of them, and sat silent. Not a tear dripped from her eyes, or a quiver of the lip. She was frozen. Against the wall she curled her legs, her knees to her chest, and locked them there here hands tight around them. Her stare was blank as she stared at the opposite wall of the room.

"Slade if you cou--."

"--Why do you keep on calling him Slade? His name is Dale," Rachel cut in, still blank in her expression.

"Well. It's not. It's Slade Wilson. He's the infamous villain that tortured the Teen Titans several years ago." Jones glared at Slade as he told her the truth.

"That's impossible." She snapped out of her subconscious. "He'd be what, ninety?"

"Just about." Slade said with a smile. "I forgot to mention I'm immortal." Rachel stood up and stormed over to him.

"You _forgot to mention it_?! Jesus _Slade_. Now you can't blame me the way you are about keeping my secrets!"

"You're two timing Rachel!"

"You'd eventually leave me!"

"Why in God's name would you think I'd leave you?"

"I'd get too old. I'd be sucking oxygen and you'd be ripe and fresh. No one would ever stay that long. You could live life fully. I'd just be dying."

"It doesn't matter anyways. You'd be growing old with your husband. I would have never left you Rachel. Don't you see that I love you?" She saw it, felt it, and wrongfully embraced it. Her facial expression became soft, and she tenderly bit her bottom lip and let it slip away gently. Tears again swelled from her eyes and ran over her already tear stained cheeks.

"Every moment you kiss me, hold my hand, say something sweet, look at me from across your limo." Her eyes swelled with admiration, and brought her hands close to her chest and interlocked her hands, right over left.

"Then you have to choose," Slade demanded, taking a step forward.

"What? No…Slade you can't make me do this…."

"Then I'll choose for you--"

"Slade…."

Slade looked at Rachel for a long time as she turned from affectionate to vulnerable. She let her hair fall from behind her ear and let it hang next to her eye. Her shoulders fell, and her jaw tense. His sense usually toned for finding weaknesses to kill, he used them to calculate a move that could eventually end in his favor.

"Good bye Rachel." Her lids closed over her eyes, and let out a soft grunt in dissatisfaction. Slade swore he heard her heart break, but he needed to stay strong.

He took one step back, turned his back on her. He motioned for Jones to follow.

"Please Slade…," she beckoned one last time. Slade had no answer for her, but to leave her in the loud silence of her thoughts.

-xXx

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Jason asked looking left to right down the street.

"Something that fits." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She saw his expression. "Something that fits _too_ well." "So ridiculously rich and lavish?"

"Pretty much. Wait! Look!" Rhiannon pointed to a small home, that was freshly painted, and the lawn was recently taken care of. It was pristine, and that's exactly what she was looking for. "Pull over!" Jason slammed on the breaks and swiftly pulled in to the driveway. The driver behind him blared the horn and promptly gave him the finger.

"You sure you want to do this?" Jason asked, putting the car in park.

"Yes," Rhiannon sighed.

"For one, this probably isn't his house--."

"We've gone around the town for an hour. This is it."

"I guess. But are you really sure? "

"Yes." Rhiannon looked away and put her hand on the handle and paused for a moment to mull. There was a very good chance that this house wasn't his, and that Deathstroke was not in fact Slade, or her father. In which case she would be orphaned, at seventeen, lost in a world sixty years ahead of her time. She looked at Jason for reassurance, but he was as skeptical as she. She pulled the handle towards her, and pushed the door open. Jason followed suit, and they met at the front door and paused.

"You sure?" Jason asked a final time.

"Yes…I think." He looked at her curiously as she rang the doorbell.

-xXx

Since Raven's death, Slade had never been so still. The television was background noise as he stared at a spot slightly right of the entertainment center. He was slightly slumped, sitting on the couch, a tight grip on the can of beer in his hand. His breathing was shallow; his chest rose up and down consistently, pushing forward then relaxing. The scruff on his face was unkempt, and he had dark circles that looked like thump prints under his eyes. Only when his eyes were in dyer need of replenishment did he blink, and when he did, it was a slow process. Then to his diffused surprise the doorbell rang. He stiffly turned his head thirty five degrees and blinked lackadaisically. He whole heartedly wanted to believe it was Rachel running to him changing her mind, but there was three weeks with no contact. However, there was still hope. So with all the will he could muster up, he separated his rear from the couch and paced to the door to open it.

At first, he shied away from the sun light, and his pupils struggled to condense as it blocked itself from the brightness. He retracted his eye lids and first looked down at the cement at a dainty pair of legs in jeans, and then looked up. Every muscle in his body clenched and then froze. The can of beer over flowed and then crumpled like a paper cub in his grasp.

"If--If this is a joke…God. I'm not…laughing," Slade said, holding a steady eye contact with Rhiannon.

"Dad, it's me, Rhiannon."

"I know, who are you are…."

"Dad, look…." Rhiannon took a step forward, and Slade took a step back. "Dad, please." Rhiannon had tears running down her cheeks. She wouldn't travel across the country to be rejected by her father.

"No, you can't be real…you _died_. I _watched you die_!" Slade yelled and tried to slam the door, but Jason stepped forward and prevented the door from doing so.

"Dad, _please_, look at me!" Rhiannon ran towards Slade, with arms wide open, and pushed herself in to his muscled body and began to sob. Slade was surprise at his human reaction as his whole body relaxed at her warmth. Her warm tears soaked his shirt. He put a firm grip on her upper arm and pulled away from his body. He lifted her chin and he picked out all of Raven's features immediately; specifically the eyes. The way the purple color swirled around the blue in striking clarity that could not be achieved in a dream or memory, was confirmation to Slade that she and the situation was real.

"Why…how…are you….alive?" he asked, his voice monotone and dry.

"I was hoping you could answer that." Rhiannon frowned. But it quickly tightened in to an angry expression. Her fists clenched, and a black ember raised from her skin and hovered. Her eyes turned a sickening white. "Is it true?" She looked at her father only searching for truth.

"…what? Is what true?"

"Justin."

Slade froze. Rhiannon's death triggered Justin's, and Raven's life was taken as collateral damage. "Rhiannon…." Her name rolled off his tongue sounding foreign and familiar.

"_You killed him? My own father!" Rhiannon pumped her fists downward in rage._

"_Rhiannon," he stated again, this time with a firm tone, "it is a long, complicated, and painful story." Slade looked away from her in shame._

"_Then tell me!" From behind, Jason his hands on her shoulders and gently rubbed them back and forth to calm her down. Instead of acting in gratitude, she turned on him, and used her energy to push him against the front wall of them home, next to the front door. He hit it, dumbfounded. There was no calming her down now._

"_Rhiannon I didn't kill Justin." She turned to face him. "He took Raven because he thought I killed you. In his self demise he took Raven from me." Slade choked the sentence out, and the expressions that fell on his face ranged from frustrated to looking as if he was jammed through a meat grinder._

"_How romantic," Jason said under his breath._

"_Mom died…." Rhiannon's shoulders began to relax, and the true color of her eyes began to show._

"_Yes…Mom died."_

"_You lost everything."_

"_I had everything to loose. You being here is a dream, this is ridiculous. I watched you…."_

"_Sir," Jason said respectively, "I saw her come alive. A detective, Henry, he wanted to dig up her body to see if there was any biological connection…to see if she would lead to you. I saw her regenerate from a corpse to a human being. It was remarkable." Slade eyed Jason carefully. In a delayed reaction, Slade responded to the mention of an old comrade._

"_Henry did you say?"_

"_Yes. A detective." Slade swallowed hard._

"_Does he know that you two are missing?"_

"_I'm sure it's been reported."_

"_You do know that the story that is going to be published is that you stole a corpse?" Slade asked, with a smirk on his face._

_Jason gave a smile. "If only they knew how the dead speak." Jason looked right at Rhiannon as he said it. She blushed._

"_Some do know. They call it necrophilia," Slade commented._

"_Dad--."_

"_Ha, yes they do."_

_Slade took Rhiannon's shoulders and rotated her so that she was facing him. "I can't believe it. This is a gift. It truly is. And so much to tell you!" Slade laughed, "Jones is going to get a kick out of this. And…Sam and Steph. They are definitely going to love it."_

"_Who are they?" Rhiannon asked. Slade smiled._

"_You'll just have to wait to find out."_


	15. Who's Your Daddy?

After a long, long, long break here [finally] is a chapter. Please, enjoy [=

Slade looked at Jason with the intent of smashing Jason's head into a hard surface.  
"You do know he's hitting on you, right?" Slade rudely asked point a finger at Jason. Rhiannon dismissed her father's comment. How old is he anyways?  
"Dad, please. Not again."  
"No, no "Dad, please". I want to know how old he is." Slade firmly demanded. This time, he was going to make sure he held a stable relationship with his daughter. Even if he meant he had to be a little over protective.

"I'm twenty-five," Jason admitted.

"Jason you didn't have to say that. Dad, he didn't have to say that!" Rhiannon argued.

"He's too old for you."

"We're not dating!"

"Good, because he's too old for you."

Rhiannon's lip twitched in frustration. "How old were you and Mom?" Slade fell silent. "Hmm?"

"My situation is different."

"How old was she? Seventeen? Eighteen? How old were you?" she pestered.

"Old enough to be your father," Slade said, his voice stern.

"Well it doesn't even matter, 'cause you freaking knocked up a teenager. How responsible is that? And you couldn't even keep me! A Teen Titan and a vigilante can't keep their own daughter! I will never be Rhiannon Wilson. Ever." She pushed herself and her seat away and stood up.

"You know what happened. There was no way we could have found you, Rhiannon. Raven and I were keeping you. We wanted you." Slade's voice was dry and shaky. Old wounds were being freshly opened.

"Dad, I don't care. Do you have any idea what life is for me right now? My parents are dead, my boyfriend is dead, my birth mother is dead, and the only one left is my selfish father. I thought that we would bond because we only have each other. I was wrong. Come on Jason."

Rhiannon left the room and walked to the front door.

-xXx

"So where does this leave us?" Peter asked with his head in his hands. His eyes were swollen, and his appearance shoddy at best. Rachel looked at him as she sat next to him on the couch. She hadn't left his side since Slade left. She spent the night with him on the floor with a pillow and a plush blanket.

"This is so hard to explain, Peter. I love you. I loved you from the moment we met, you know that. We've been together since we were twelve."

"Rachel, we started dating when we were seventeen," Peter said in a mater of fact tone.

"Yes, but we were inseparable at twelve. I guess he was a breath of fresh air," Rachel mused.

"And I'm the old musty air? The stuffed room that needs a window opened?"

"No. I had a lapse of better judgment."

"You went with him for a reason, Rachel. Just tell me the reason."

Rachel turned her head away from him. She was still torn about Slade's abrupt decision to end their relationship with no promise of at the very least friendship. Slade was adventurous, and willing. Peter was a stiff, loveable, businessman. He was cute, but Slade was romantic. Slade was superhuman. Slade was everything. How could she tell her fiancé that?

"Peter you're my best friend, right?" she timidly asked, her head still turned from him.

"Of course. This just makes it really hard at the moment."

"I – I want you to always be my best friend. Because I love you."

"As a friend? A fiancé?"

Rachel turned to look him in the eye. "As my husband."

-xXx

Rhiannon looked at Jason, beckoning him to follow. He cautiously looked at Slade and then left the table. Rhiannon let him walk out the front door first, and then slammed it shut. She promptly burst in to tears.

"I'm completely alone in this world. Everyone I knew…Jason everyone is dead!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "You're not alone though. You have your father."

"He's not my father! He can't tell me what the hell to do!" Rhiannon yelled.

"Yes he is, Rhiannon."

"I thought you were on my side?"

"I am. You have to go back. You're the only person he has left."

"What about me, Jason?"

"What about you? You have your father now. He has had nobody. You're family. He might not have raised you, but you can't ignore the fact that his blood runs through your veins. I didn't bring you out here for nothing. You want to be with him, don't make it so difficult for yourself. Now go in there and apologize."

She looked at him in disbelief and blinked once deliberately.

A passerby excused herself as she walked by the arguing pair in the pampered hallway of the apartment building.

"Fine." She pivoted towards the door and realized she wasn't being followed. "Aren't you coming?"

"No." Her eyes widened.

"Why not?"

"I have to get back to Plainsville. I need to explain all this to the authorities to see if I can get my job back."

Rhiannon pouted. She was accustomed to his company, and she had grown partial to the time when he calmed her down before she tore a motel apart with her dormant and nearly uncontrollable power. "Can you at least stay one more night?"

He smiled weakly, "One more night."

-xXx

Rachel sat slummed in a chair, her elbow obnoxiously on the table with her head in her palm.

"At least pretend to look happy to be out of your apartment," Kathy hissed over the table.

"I'm so enthused, let me tell you."

"Come on. You know Slade wasn't for you anyways."

"Kathy I loved him more than Peter. I can't, and won't forget him. He was wonderful. He was carefree and-."

"A killer, rich, handsome; but mostly a killer. He's a bad man."

"No, he's not! That's what's wonderful!"

"Rachel you sound ridiculous." Kathy looked at her friend. "I warned you not to get involved. Now listen to yourself. You're mad."

"I'm madly in love with him. I've accepted that, and I feel slightly better, but it feels like I'm lying to Peter every time I wake up to him. But I love Peter too, but only I a physical friendship way."

"Like a year's full of one night stands."

Rachel paused.

"You're sick. Get some help."

"You're funny. Get some – He hasn't called me or anything. I think he meant he was actually leaving me."

"Rachel!" Kathy nearly yelled in a small restaurant, "you were cheating on your fiancé! He did the right thing!"

Rachel bit her top lip, "My body can't ignore Slade and my heart can't ignore Peter. I'm stuck and -."

"You're getting married, hun. You need to think about Peter as your companion. Slade doesn't matter anymore. He left. He left you." Kathy waved for a waiter to get a glass of water. "After you cry you're going to need that."

Rachel raised an eyebrow in confusion. Kathy slid her chair over and sat down. She embraced her friend in a hug, and let her cry on her shoulder.


	16. The Beginning of the End

Three men sat in a small office at Plainsville Police Headquarters. They stared at piles of files through wafting cigarette smoke. Henry convinced a local officer that the "Harris, Rhiannon" case needed to be reopened in order to catch the infamous villain that plagued this generation of law enforcement.

"I want the press in on this case. Now. There is no reason why a scientist and a corpse can walk down the main street going unnoticed. This scientist is sick, or Deathstroke's stamp is all over this." Henry moved uncomfortably in his chair. He knew that his men were questioning his persistence that Deathstroke was the answer to solving the case. He also knew that he was becoming more agitated every second that Slade Wilson's neck was not in between his hands.

"I'm not really sure broadcasting this is the best option either. I mean, if Deathstroke really is behind this, than broadcasting it only lets him know that we're on to him," a thin, square jawed man said.

"I agree. This very well could be some creep stealing dead bodies," said a burly man in between chomping a doughnut.

"Yeah. Purely coincidence."

"Or, Deathstroke got wind we dug up her body, and is now punishing the scientist at our expense." Henry mused.

"No offense boss, but you're making crazy allegations. There is no way that Slade and Deathstroke are the same person. He'd be one hundred and sucking down oxygen. And who says that this body is even his daughter?"

"Hugh," Henry said to the thin man, "You don't understand this man like I do."

"He's dead Henry. Face it."

Henry's frustration was ready to boil over into his flame of hatred for Deathstroke. He knew he didn't dare to reveal his secret to his friends. "No!" Henry slammed his fist on the solid wooden desk. A stress fracture split under his blow. "Raven and Slade disappeared for an extended period of time. Came back, and roughly sixteen years later a young girl is allowed in the tower. Allowed! She has to be kin. And then Slade and Raven disappear again. This incident was the end of the Titan's and their rival, it has to all be connected!"

The burly man sighed. "Even if all this did happen, it doesn't explain his age, and his ability to function."

"True. But this girl died in the tower. Whether she was kin or not, she still lost her life at the expense of the Titans'. There is no way that these heroes would let a young girl die," Hugh suggested. "We need to continue going through Jump City archives."

"But we need to save this scientist first," Henry demanded. "He's still alive. And I believe his safety is in Deathstroke's hands." He stood from his chair, and looked at the two mean in earnest. "We need to figure this out before there's another victim."

-xXx

Their relationship was too tense and fragile to move forward without comfort from the silence that filled the room.

"I want you to meet your siblings. Because of our ages, I am to my grandchildren only a friend of their father's," Slade solemnly explained.

"My brother…"

"Yes. And your sister, Steph, would probably want to meet you too."

"Probably."

"This is all so odd. Even for me. The immortal." Slade grinned.

"I guess it runs in the family."

Jason laughed. "At least you'll always have each other."

Rhiannon rested her chin on arms folded on the table as if to sigh in distaste.

"Well, not to be rude, but I have business to attend to. The guest room is down the hall from the bathroom. I'm glad you're alive Rhiannon. I wish we didn't have to put you to rest all those years." Slade excused himself from the table and left the two alone. Nearly bounding to his room, he put his Sunday best on. Rhiannon standing in his kitchen made him realize no matter how long he was going to exist, life was going to move on whether he wanted to partake in it or not. His sedative nature after Raven's death wasn't benefiting him or her memory. She would have wanted her lover around the people that made him happy. But most of all she would have wanted the family that they made, together.

-xXx

"You're hallucinating."

"I could feel her warmth on my skin, Steph."

"Alcohol gives that warming effect too."

"Why are you so critical?"

Steph crossed her arms and stepped back to lean against the kitchen counter. "There's a difference between being critical and being realistic. How could a body that deceased forty years ago come alive? She would be a decayed mess!"

"She's my daughter! Not some decayed body!"

"Maybe you've forgotten how life works, Dad. We live and we die. It's a cycle the rest of us can not avoid."

Slade's hands crumpled into fists. He couldn't get the past the traits that he had passed on to her. Her stubborn logic disallowed her to believe her father. But then what sane person would believe a man living in decay. She had seen him dip so far into the drink that he was treading water.

He turned to walk away, "If you want to see if I'm lying or not you know where I live."

After a long pause of staring down the hallway that he left in, she mumbled a slew of curses, quickly grabbed her jacket, and left after him.

-xXx

Rachel stared into the mirror at the white dress that hugged her body. Peter would definitely approve of this figure walking toward him.

"I love it," she muttered.

"Don't forget the veil!" the consultant skipped over and placed it on Rachel's head letting the small veil drop seductively just below her eyes.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart," her mother gushed on the loveseat behind her. Tears welled in her eyes.

"Oh Mom stop! You're going to make me cry!" Rachel flailed her arms in an attempt to keep the tears back.

"I can't help it, my daughter is getting married!" She stood and gave the bride a hug. "You two are going to be so happy."

"Yes, we are." Rachel smiled and gingerly wiped the tears from her mother's eyes before she was crying too. Suddenly, a sinking feeling swelled. She looked back into the mirror and in its reflection she saw a dark figure looming outside the storefront. By the time she took a double take the figure was gone and with out warning she dashed from the pedestal for the front of the store. "Wait! Slade!"

Anger consumed him. Her fiancé was the right choice; he would give her a life of normalcy. It was something he couldn't give anyone. But the storm that clouded his thoughts saw a ray of sunshine. He heard her delicate voice, and without any hesitation, turned back. Rachel's hand waved him inside.

"How did you find me?" her voice was in a whisper.

"Who said I was looking?"

"You left me, Slade."

"I had no choice. It's what was best for everyone."

"Not for me."

"You don't see it now, but you would never have what your fiancé could give you, with me."

"I already had everything I needed. Her hand reached for his face and gently caressed it.

"Rachel, you're in white. I'd prefer to keep you that way from now on." He firmly took her hand and placed it at her side. "You look beautiful."

Every muscle in her face was tight trying to keep the tears back. She nodded.

"I have to see you one more time, Rachel New…Just one more time. Then I can let you go."

Her eyelids pressed together firmly and a tear slipped down her face. "Okay."

"I'll slip a note under your door."

When she opened her eyes he was gone from her view and the door was on its way to being closed.


	17. Moving On

"I can't do it Slade." Addie swallowed hard and watched Slade's facial expression droop into sadness.

"Why, if you're afraid of the immortality…I'll never leave you!"

"No, but I'll leave you. Your perfect, unchanging face will be like this forever and I will be left swimming the stream of mortality until I die. I'll leave you in life or in death, and I'm afraid that's why I can't marry you." She put a gentle hand on his face, and looked into his eyes. "You can't see it now, but you will change from this alteration. Now that you've survived, the missions that you will be sent on…you'll never come back the same."

"Addie, please."

"There are bigger things in store for you than you and I." It would be the last time he saw the world with both eyes open.

Slade stepped forward to reach for her one last time, but she pulled out a gun and put it to his face. The shock caused him to step back.

"Why a gun? I haven't harmed you." Slade's voice became stern.

"This is the only way that you'll realize that you and I are too different to be together."

"The only difference I see is that you have a gun, and I do not."

The weapon trembled in her hands as she wrapped her finger on the trigger. "This will show you the difference."

She shut her eyes and pulled the trigger. The bullet blasted from the gun directly into Slade's vision, and blinded him instantly in pain. His screams were loud and guttural, and he let a marathon of curses run from his mouth.

"THAT WAS MY EYE YOU HALF WITTED BITCH!"

When Addie lowered her gun she didn't think of the permanence of the act she committed. "You'll heal and move on without me, Slade. You have to see that."

"If I have any doubts now that I will never speak to you again, you can shoot my other eye out!" Slade was clutching his wound in dire hopes the burned flesh that consisted of a delicate organ would heal. He brought his hand into the vision of his good eye and saw the extent of the wound. He felt around the area, recognizing the tingling feeling of reconstruction would not happen for his obliterated socket.

Watching Slade tenderly self examine she put a hand to her mouth and gasped as his hand moved from the wound and exposed the gore. She had permanently disfigured him. The idea clutched her throat and shook her to her core. Her body weight felt as if it had double in a millisecond; grief was going to crush her. It rattled her ribcage, pressured her shoulders. Before Slade could act, she turned the barrel towards her own delicate face.

"Addie, no!"

Evil made a home in his soul when he held her disfigured body, the blood covering his hands and chest as he cried over her. The government program was shut down immediately after Addie's death and the subsequent knowledge of a masked killer. He now saw himself as a monster and truly believed that was all he could be.

-xXx

Henry's dreams began in his past. They showed him once again the horrors of being in the army tucked under a blanket of fear. It showed him his trials as a father and husband. It showed him who he was, and why he was fighting so hard to face Slade. Most importantly sleep offered him the calm to process his current thoughts. The case that whirled in his head as separate puzzle pieces became the full picture. Like the clock striking twelve, it all clicked into place, his happiness chimed, and he awoke to experience it. He ripped his damp body from his bed and grabbed his phone to call his partner, Hugh.

"Wake the fuck up, I've finally figured it out."

-xXx

Steph made all the arrangements so her family could meet for dinner, and arrived seven o'clock sharp at the entrance. At first she saw Sam and Jessica and greeted them with hugs and pecks on the cheek.

"I don't know if I want this to be real or not," Steph confessed.

"But we have to be fully prepared that this isn't," Sam said.

Jessica pondered. "We live in a place of super heroes, we're the offspring of them. And…and look what you guys were born from. Out of awful improbabilities, love conquered. Anything is possible."

After a few tense moments, three persons walked around the restaurant to where the other three were waiting. Steph gasped and brought her hand over her mouth, covering her gaped mouth. Sam stayed motionless and Jessica smiled.

"It's finally nice to meet you Rhiannon." Jessica extended her hand.

"You too, Jess. That's okay if I call you Jess?"

"That's fine." Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I know this is strange. It's strange for me too. I should be sixty. Old, wrinkled-."

"No," Sam interrupted, "you should be dead."

"I was! I assure you I was…. But I'm here."

"You look so much like Dad," Steph cooed, "and Mom's eyes. I feel her here." Steph walked into her father's arms and began to whimper. Slade wrapped his arms around his daughter.

"I told you so," he joked.

"And who's this? Your coffin buddy?" Sam asked pointing at Jason.

"No," Jason laughed, "I'm just the scientist who watched her come to life."

"Oh, right. So this is all real? She's not being paid?"

"Very real."

"You sure he's not paying you too?"

"I'm sure."

Steph let go of her father's embrace. "Sam. Face it. Dad wasn't lying. This is real, and she is your older…younger…sister."

"I know what I see. I just can't seem to want to believe it."

"Just ask me," Rhiannon said, "ask me anything you want. I never thought you guys were real until I saw you too. You have to understand how happy I am to wake up to family. Slade is my father by birth, but my parents died. You're all I have left."

Restaurant patrons began to leave and stopped the conversation short. They filed in to the restaurant and took their seats. Rhiannon described her short memory with the Titans, and how she came in to knowing her heritage. Steph listened intently, and Sam listened without interacting with Rhiannon or Jason.

"Listen to me you two," Slade said to Sam and Steph, "In all my years I've learned that family must take care of family in order to survive, no matter who the family members are. I want you two to watch over Rhiannon and guide her to a normal existence. I might look younger than I should be, but I am still your father and you better do as I ask."

"Of course," Steph complied.

"But what if I don't want to exist normally. You and I both know that I am my mother's daughter. I want to do good where I can, like I think she would want." Rhiannon wanted to indulge her powers again, to feel the energy at her fingertips.

"The world doesn't need superheroes. They need lawyers and police officers. Order is what humanity needs. Self righteous people cause chaos." Slade didn't believe what he was preaching, and Sam caught on.

"Strange words coming from a mercenary."

"You know they are true."

"But the Teen Titans helped people," Rhiannon pleaded.

"Sure they did, but for every one Titan, ten villains rose to greet them. I'm just trying to protect you, Rhiannon…protect you from your mother and I succumbed to."

Rhiannon's face fell. His eyes looked dim and sleepless, his demeanor heavy. "I promise I will do what is right by you and my mother; I promise."

-xXx

"Rhiannon went to go find Deathstroke because he's kin, Hugh. It makes perfect sense. Oh don't give me that bullshit, Hugh. I know people will think it's crazy. That is why I'm going on my own back to Garnett Rise. Of course I can confront Deathstroke. He and I are more similar than we'd like to know…." Henry hung up his cell phone and packed a few things in his suitcase. He tasted iron in his mouth; he was hungry.

-xXx

Rachel was swamped with last minute revisions of her wedding. She enjoyed her bachelorette party Kathy made known that she planned. No matter how many attractive men flaunted their rear ends and toned torso, her mind never wavered from Slade. She waited impatiently for the note under her door as he promised, but on the Tuesday before her big day the expensive notepaper slipped under her door. Her senses exploded with happiness and she bolted to open the door. Expecting to run out, she threw her body forward. Instead her frame bumped into Slade himself

"I promised you I'd see you one last time. You didn't need to worry that I wouldn't follow through."

"You've been watching me?"

"I had to figure out the perfect time to drop off your letter without Peter around. I'm sure he wouldn't want to see me."

"Oh…right." Suddenly her heart sank. The realization that she would never be able to see him again, and that after these moments he would let go of her and she would only be a memory to him was too much for her to bear. Her eyes became moist, but she avoided the storm of tears. "So, is this it?"

"Not yet. I want to go out for a bit."

"Oh, good. Let me get dressed."

She ran to her bedroom and fingered through her best-looking dresses. She chose a tight fitting black dress that snugly showed off her figure, and accessorized it with gold jewelry and gold sequence pumps. She quickly primped her hair and made her eyes pop with eyeliner, mascara, and shadow. Once satisfied with how she looked and felt, she shuffled to the front door to grab her coat. Slade smiled and she noticed right away.

"I didn't want you to forget me." She smirked. Rachel knew she was overdressed for the occasion, but enjoyed knowing that she could still make his mind wander.

"Even if I was, I'm definitely not going to now." He allowed for her to put her jacket on and lock her apartment up before he grabbed her hand. His grip was soft.

"I'm sorry for everything," she apologized, red in the face.

"What could you possibly be apologizing for?"

"Because. I've pursued you, hurt you, and have forced you abandon me. All after loosing your wife. That's not healthy." She pushed the down bottom next to the elevator shaft and looked to the floor.

He smiled forgivingly, "My lifestyle hasn't exactly been healthy. I'm a bonafide killer, Rachel. I commit the highest form of human treason for a paycheck."

The elevator door opened. "We all have issues." She walked in first, her arm jerked back a bit when Slade didn't immediately follow her in.

He couldn't help but laugh at her blatant dismissal. "We do. But we're also not permanently on this earth, which is why we need to make right out of wrong." He paused, and squeezed her hand tighter. Rachel looked to his face and saw his jaw lock and eyes compress in concern. "I just have a longer time to do so. I want to do right by you Rachel, maybe because I failed to do right by my wife." The elevator doors opened on the bottom floor, they stepped out from them, and then outside the lobby in to the brisk air.

"How do you mean?"

"I didn't believe her when she needed me. Yes, we made up and spent some nice years together, but we could have had so much more and my ways wouldn't let us. I couldn't escape who I made my self become and I hate myself for it. You are my second chance. My doing good is letting Peter be the better choice for you. He will provide a normal existence…the right existence."

Rachel perked up and became angry by his words. "Can't you see that I wouldn't choose normal if you would give me that choice? And who says that a normal one is the right one for me?"

"You don't see Peter in any of your decisions. You've pledged your life to him, and even still you continue to hold my hand." He smiled devilishly and lifted her hand in his grasp.

"Oh don't be so proud. Before I met you. I didn't see this happening."

"Of course not, but I'll fail you Rachel. It's only what I'm capable of."

Rachel paused and stopped in her tracks. She turned to him. "I know I'm being selfish, and Peter would leave me if he knew I was within five feet of you. As much as I love Peter you've given me a thrill that he could have never given me, and I loved it. I miss the sting you leave on my skin from our electricity and—"

Slade shook his head. "Rachel, stop. This is good-bye, not a hearing." He held both her hands now, " Please understand we had our time together and now it must come to a stop for both of us."

Rachel caught the instability in his voice and watched as he pressed his eyes together and tensed his jaw again.

"What's wrong?" Rachel demanded hastily.

Slade continued the look of grief. He picked his words carefully and began to speak, "My Raven has come to bring me home."


	18. Let There Be Peace

_"You have won, Slade," she said, breathing lightly._

_"What have I won?" he asked, responding quite well to her actions._

_"You have won my proposal, my request that I fall in love with you. And you have __won__," she whispered._

_"Then what is my acquisition, or gain? What have I won?" he asked, his eye wondering about her face, slowly leaning in because he was being pulled in._

_"A kiss, my love. You will receive a kiss from the woman who loves you," she said…._

-xXx

"I can't believe it. Right now I couldn't even make myself believe it."

"I know. The doctor gave me days, Jones. A handful of them left after…so many years. Too long to be alive."

"But you show no signs."

"They come and go but the damage stays."

"How did Rachel take it? Rhiannon, Steph, and Sam?"

"Rhiannon took it the best, actually."

"Well it makes sense. She's already lost you once."

"I thought Sam would give me a standing ovation."

"He's your son, Slade."

"Exactly."

"Will you even make it to Rachel's wedding?"

"I wasn't invited, Jones."

"I know."

"You also know that I told her good-bye yesterday, right? Not good-bye until I see you every day after."

"I know. "

"What don't you know?"

"After all we've discovered in the world, Wilson, I'm abashed that science will be your doom."

"Yes, but there will be peace soon. For myself, and all the people I've done wrong by. Deathstroke didn't chose to take all those lives, Slade Wilson did."

"Listen Wilson, no matter how long the doctor gave you, do not drive yourself crazy with the "what if" questions. Those moments lead to some great ones. Yes, there were questionable actions, but I think you've come to terms with the consequences through Rachel. You've been humbled, and I think that right now, even though every human on earth would chose life, you cannot continue to circle. This is why I became a pacifist. To have peace with my changed body and to do well with it because I couldn't live an eternity with myself after remembering possible centuries of the horrors I could bestow in hatred of what I had become."

"I'm glad you have found peace and rainbows, but I haven't exactly been anyone's guardian angel."

"It's not about peace, rainbows, or even purple fucking unicorns, Slade. It's about finding yourself. I think you did in your own sociopathic way.

"Maybe. But I'm still…nervous, Jones."

"There is no need. I'm sure Raven will be waiting for you."

-xXx

"Have plain, half sausage. Oh and garlic knots. Thirty bucks? Fine, fine. Thanks." Jones hung up the phone, and placed it on the coffee table when an assertive bang rattled the door.

"Hmm…I guess they were really serious about getting a hot pie in thirty minutes or less…" Slade mused.

Jones rolled his eyes and got up from his chair to open the door. The person on the other side that filled his vision surprised him so that he stood motionless and mouth agape.

"Well, this is definitely a delightful surprise." Henry smiled and walked past the frozen Jones. "And there he is, the infamous Deathstroke in sweatpants and a t-shirt! I expected something more formal for a super-villain. I'm disappointed."

"The biggest surprise is that you strung that sentence together without a stutter. Congratulations," Slade countered.

"I see you haven't changed one bit, Slade. But I have."

"No doubt. You're a cop now, the perfect profession for finding me. I knew you'd come to try and end me after you grew in to your big boy pants and figured out your strength." Slade stood from his chair, but his favorite bottle of beer down. "Here's your chance, Henry. Destroy me. We all get what we want from this. You kill me and avenge your life, and I win my freedom from this place."

The words took Henry aback. "You…want to die?"

"I have no choice in the matter. Either you take me, or cancer will."

Silence fell upon Henry. This wasn't how he imagined Slade in his last hour. He imagined him strong, and the definition of the black plague of evil that clouded the world. This broken man was not the man he wanted to kill.

"Doubt is not a good trait for a killer Henry. The army should have taught you that."

"Do not confuse doubt and disbelief."

"Oh, this isn't what you expected? It wasn't a man awaiting a metal table and wooden box, drinking beers in his pajamas? You gave me too much credit."

"I gave you everything!" Henry screamed. "I wanted to find you and prove that you were no longer my better, but my equal!"

"I think this is that moment. I've lost a daughter…at one point. My wife. The list goes on. The only difference is that you didn't help me spiral down. I was able to do it perfectly fine on my own. In fact, I excelled at it. Here in this moment where I am at my weakest, you surpass me. I am finished! There is nothing left that I can do in this life, there is nothing left for me but death!"

Slade's words grieved Henry. Not for Slade's sake, but for his own. He had wasted years of relationships with women and his children for a man who was so wrapped up in his own problems he didn't give his life one thought. He felt pathetic. Enraged by his lack of control, he pulled his gun from his holster and in one quick, fluid motion, fired the shot. It left the gun and punctured flesh, muscle, and bone to pierce Slade's heart. A loud sigh escaped his lips as he clutched his wound. Pain. Searing pain that stopped his heart. He could feel the world slow around him and get heavy as the blood stopped being propelled toward his brain. _"Raven!"_ He thought desperately. The world was slipping in to darkness, and the only person that filled his mind was her.

"_I am here now, my love. I'll make all your pain disappear."_

In his mind's eye she stood in a long, flowing deep purple gown. She was more beautiful than he remembered as her unique purple eyes laid their gaze upon him again.

"Thank you," Slade gasped in the land of the living.

"Why did you shoot him if he was going to die anyways?" Jones yelled as he ran to his friend's side. He watched as Slade began coughing blood, and his eyes head north towards the back of his skull. His movements became hard and slow as the oxygen was being deprived from his body.

_"I am so sorry that I could not change sooner for us…our family," Slade apologized._

_ "No, do not be sorry. We will all be reunited. That's what I told Rhiannon."_

_ "Rhiannon?"_

_ "It's almost over, and then I will explain everything."_

One last cough escaped the lungs of Slade Wilson before the infinite silence befell him. His pain was over. Peace had come.

Jones looked at his motionless body and wondered where his soul had journeyed and prayed that he was with Raven. The thought wasn't held long before he looked to Henry with hatred.

"You are just as stupid as you were all those years ago. Again you enter in to what you don't understand and fuck everything up! He wasn't supposed to die this way."

"It was a murder's death." Henry said in monotone. "Besides, you heard him. He wanted to die."

"Never would I think a man who has suffered would be so bitter that his blood would curdle. He wanted peace. You've become the man that Slade finally freed himself of. I hope he haunts you from his grave!"

Henry pointed the gun at Jones. "You chose to be a pacifist, I was bullied in to being bitter and hateful. I am your equal! And now I can finally say in confidence that I am."


	19. Epilogue

_ "This must be heaven. This must be it," Slade whispered._

_ "This is what ever you like it to be," Raven replied, motioning towards the endless white he saw around them._

_ "You are here. We are here. It must be heaven." Slade demanded._

_ "Of course, my love. We have so much to talk about, and so little time."_

_ "How do you mean?"_

_ "About Rhiannon. And Rachel. I sent her to you my love. I could never have you achieve that sort of serenity."_

_ "What? Raven that's a lie and you know it. We married and had a family together."_

_ "Yes, yes we did. But I was a titan and you were a criminal. She was an innocent civilian. She saw you like a deer in headlights. Rushing towards her, handsome, intelligent, and most surprisingly loving." Raven looked up at him with her head tilted towards the floor. _

_ "You gave me those things. I am a machine who killed."_

_ Raven laughed. "Machines do not reproduce or love. And Rhiannon. I gave her back to you too. I knew you needed her back in your life to truly accept closure. Everyone and everything you thought you've wronged came back so you could have peace! And then I could selfishly take you."_

_ "How. How did you do all this?" Slade questioned._

_ "The real question is why. You and I were meant to be together. Always. And my passing just delayed this fact." Raven reached to touch Slade's arm, but stopped short._

_ "You didn't have to leave me! You let Grayson stay instead of you!"_

_ "He had such a limited time on Earth. You and I could live forever!" Raven protested. She wrinkled her brow in just the way he remembered. He couldn't help but smile._

_ "You planned all this from that moment. You left me without explaining. And left me to be depressed alienating myself from my children…from the world. That sounds more like cruel revenge than a plan for romance, Raven."_

_ "It seems that way, but I'm not the vindictive villain here." She started to walk away from him, and he reached for her but it seemed his hand had missed contact with her skin._

_ "What…what is this place?" Slade's voice filled his chest cavity and echoed loudly in the white space. "Are we really here?"_

_ "This is whatever you would like it to be Slade Wilson." Raven turned to face him. "I must show you one more thing. Our time is running out."_

_ "Show me what? Heaven isn't short on time..." He followed her anyways. He needed to understand her passive and cryptic sayings._

_ "Look. Look there in the floor." Raven pointed downward, and an image of Rhiannon showed foggy. "She will marry Jason. But she will follow her mother's footsteps and join a justice league of sorts."_

_ "She said she was going to do right by her parents."_

_ "She is," Raven smiled gently. "They will live happy and her choices will never get in the way of their life together. Sam will eventually calm the chip on his shoulder. You can't live forever, and he wants to do right by Jessica. He loves you dearly. And our Steph will be independent. She will do good things by helping your sister. She'll become a lawyer and help Rhiannon. And Henry will be their biggest foe, but they will overcome him. Time and time again. He is weak."_

_ "How can you tell me things that haven't happened? Raven this can not be you."_

_ "I am—"_

_ "Who ever I want you to be."_

_ "No. I am Raven, your Raven. But this place will not last forever Slade. We only have a short time."_

_ "Raven if this is you than I can surely reach out and touch you but—" Slade reached out and grabbed her shoulders, and to his surprise, he made contact. He clasped his hands against her a few more times and then hugged her so close that he was sure he was going to break her. Tears escaped his ducts and flowed out of his eyes. He put his hands on her cheeks and forced her head upwards so their gazes could meet. He let the moment linger, and then kissed her on the lips, and did so until he felt like he could let her go for a second and then held her again to his chest._

_ "Promise me you'll never leave me."_

_ Slade noticed that an enormous black cloud was heading for them, looking to swallow them both._

_ "I promise you Slade. I will never leave you again."_

_ The black cloud was inches from them and Slade breathed hard, "I love you, Raven!" Just as the words reverberated around them the cloud swallowed the couple in to an endless blackness, together forever. _

A/N: Thank you. Thank you so much for all the reads and reviews. I can't say it enough! This story has been a part of me for so long, and it really makes me sad that this is now over. I hope you all have enjoyed this journey as much as I have! SladexRaven forever!


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